A History of the New Thought Movement

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ANDOVER
HARVARD LIBRARY

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Purchased from the income of
afund for American fiistory

Secjueathed hy

^nnietouise Btiss Warren^

in memory of her husSand

CfiARLES W64RREJSi" '89

J^ J v> V^i^

as^m

(o: -A

HARVARD UNIVERSITY

A HISTORY

OF THE

NEW THOUGHT
" MOVEMENT

BY

HORATIO W. DRESSER

Author of "Thi Powir of I^ilekce," "Handbook

OF THE New Thought," "The Spirit

OF THE New Thought/' etc.

NEW YORK

THOMAS Y. CROWELL COMPANY

PUBLISHERS

■i

BF
(^39

.dm

m

COPTBIOBT, IQIQ. BT

THOMAS T. CROWBLL COIIPANT

PREFACE

Foe several years there has been a demand for
a history of the liberal wing of the mental-healing
movement known as the "New Thought." This
demand is partly due to the fact that the move-
misnt is now well organized, with international
headquarters in Washington, D. C, hence there
is a desire to bring its leading principles together
and see them in their unity ; and in part to inter-
est in the pioneers out of whose practice the
present methods and teachings have grown.
The latter interest is particularly promising since
the pioneers still have a message for us. Then,
too, we are more interested in these days in trac-
ing the connection between the ideas which con-
cern us most and the new age out of which they
have sprung. We realize more and more clearly
that this is indeed a new age. Hence we are in-
creasingly eager to interpret the tendencies of
thought which express the age at its best.

In order to meet this desire for a history of
the New Thought, Mr. James A. Edgerton,
president of the International New Thought

Alliance, decided in 1916 to imdertake the work.

111

iv Peeface

For it seemed well that some one should write
it who has not been identified with any particular
phase of the movement, either as teacher or healer.
As Mr. Edgerton was not directly acquainted
with the early history and the mental-healing
pioneers, he asked me to write the chapters about
Mr. Quimby and his followers. This I agreed
to do. But then came interruptions due to the
war, and the work was not begun. It has since
seemed advisable that I should undertake the
work as a whole, making use of such material as
Mr. Edgerton had gathered. I have responded
in the spirit in which the work was originally
planned. This History is in fact the kind of
' book I had in mind in preparing and editing the
companion voliraie. The Spirit of the New
Thoughtj New York, 1917, in which were pub-
lished various representative essays by different
writers, with historical notes and a bibliography
indicating the successive periods of the move-
ment. The introduction to the latter volimie
defines the term "New Thought," and traces its
use since it was adopted in 1895 as the name of
the liberal wing of the therapeutic movement.
The essays give expression to divergent opinions
concerning the movement, while also indicating
the development of the cardinal principles. In
the present volimie I have taken the definition
for granted, and have assimied that the reader

Preface v

is interested to turn directly to the early history.

This History might disappoint some readers,
if they had made up their minds that it is neces-
sary to look into the far past and discover ideas
in India, in ancient Greece, in the Middle Ages,
which resemble the therapeutic ideas of today.
But this venture has been tried by several writers
in recent years and has led to merely general
results. This interest in the past could be de-
veloped endlessly. The objection would be that
there is no actual historical connection, no ex-
planation of the modern movement.

StiU others have undertaken to explain the
New Thought by interpreting it as an expression
of the liberalism of the nineteenth century from
a point of view so general that all the distinctive
characteristics of the movement have been lost
in the effort to claim too much for it. The
tendency is to attribute to the New Thought far
more than can with historical accuracy be claimed
for it. The New Thought as matter of fact is
only one of many liberalizing tendencies. It
may be regarded by itself, just as in other con-
nections one might follow the history of Unita-
rianism, the philosophy of evolution, or the rise
of spiritism. All these studies would be inter-
esting and valuable in their proper place. Only
in ree«it years has the New Thought become
distinctively a liberalizing movement, with

vi Preface

churches and other organizations devoted to this
work. The mental healing movement was
purely special at first. It had to be to attract
attention to principles and methods which needed
to be recognized. The movement grew up with
little connection with any other of the special
movements of the age.

With no desire to attribute to the mental-
healing movement any results which do not be-
long to it, I am also without desire to place more
emphasis on the work of the pioneers than that
work deserves in the light of its fruits. But
there is certainly no reason to ignore the work of
those who patiently and faithfully labored for
the good of himaanity. The history here nar-
rated may be followed without indulging in con-
troversies. The early history especially is based
on a study of the manuscripts, books, and prac-
tice with the sick of the leading therapeutists.
I have enjoyed the perspnal acquaintance of
those who aided Mr. Quimby in the more impor-
tant years of his work in Portland, Maine. I
was also acquainted with Rev. W. F. Evans,
the first writer on the subject, and have known
most of the leaders of the movement save the
newer teachers and healers. The main facts on
which a controversy concerning the origin of the
movement might be founded were long ago pub-
lished in The True History of Mental Science ,

Pbeface vii

by Julius A. Dresser, Boston, 1887, and no one
has ever been able to dispute the authenticity of
these facts. Selections from Mr. Quimby's man-
uscripts were incorporated in The Philosophy
of P. P. Quimby, by Annetta G. Dresser, Bos-
ton, 1895. Therefore, people have had oppor-
tunity to judge for themselves concerning the
type of thought and the value of the teachings
for which Mr. Quimby stood. I have since
gathered the more permanent portions of these
two books and added other matters of historical
interest in Health and the Inner Life, New
York, 1906. Accordingly, I have assumed in
the present volume that the reader takes the
"true history" for granted and is ready to turn
to larger things.

The devotee of a special interpretation of the
New Thought might still maintain that the his-
torian is of a certain persuasion and that there-
fore the personal equation should be taken into
account. This is true, for every writer has a
point of view. I must admit that, after an ac-
quaintance with the movement which dates from
the years when it was known as "mental science,"
"mind-cure," and the "Boston craze," the teach-
ings of the early leaders still seem more profitable.
But why should a history ever be written unless
we hold that there are ideas of value not yet rec-
ognized in their true worth by the world ? If there

Vlll

Preface

are truths for the new age that surpass some of
the later claims put forward in behalf of the New
Thought, let us by all means try to grasp and
apply these truths. This is all the more impor-
tant now that mental healing is well known, now
that everybody makes some use of suggestion,
and is familiar with the psychological principles
underlying the movement. What remains to be
done is to pass beyond the more popular ideas
and estimate the spiritual principles, see in what
sense the New Thought is in very truth an ex-
pression of the new age. Therefore the point of
view of this History is that true history is anal-
ysis. It shows us what principles are most im-
portant in the light of the tendencies from which
they came; it is spiritual interpretation. Those
who hold this point of view have no desire to at-
tribute power to men which belongs to God.
They take no interest in claims for priority or
for special teachings said to be beyond debate
as if they came by revelation. What we care
for is the truth which finds expression in God's
own time, when it is needed. If we find that
this truth became known without much connec-
tion with similar teachings long ago recognized
in the world, there is no reason why we should
not say so. Nothing is gained for a cause by
claiming too much for it. The test after all is
not history but actual life, utility today. My

Preface ix

part is that of the appreciative historian, not that
of the ardent advocate or the devotee of a special
cause or organization. Consequently, I have
not brought forward any views of my own.

CONTENTS

CaAPTBB rAoi

I The Nkw Aob 1

II QxnMBT THE Pioneer 19

III Quimby's Method of Healing .... 44

IV The First Author 71

V The Beoinninos of Christian Science . 97

VI The Mental Science Period 126

VII The New Thought 152

VIII The First Organizations 174

IX The First Conventions 192

X The International New Thought Alliance 208

XI Other Organizations 231

XII The Movement in Foreign Lands . 258

XIII Looking Forward 276

XIV Kindred Movements 294

Appendix ddl

Index 841

THE NEW
THOUGHT MOVEMENT

THE NEW AGE

The great war came as a vivid reminder that
we live in a new age. We began to look back
not only to explain the war and find a way to
bring it to an end, but to see what tendencies
were in process to lead us far beyond it. There
were new issues to be met and we needed the new
enlightenment to meet them. The war was only
one of various signs of a new dispensation. It
came not so much to prepare the way as to call
attention to truths which we already possessed.
The new age had been in process for some time.
Different ones of us were trying to show in what
way it was a new dispensation, what principles
were most needed. What the war accomplished
for us was to give us a new contrast. As a re-
sult we now see clearly that some of the tendencies
of the nineteenth century which were most
warmly praised are not so promising as we sup-
posed.

2 The New Thought Movement

We had come to regard the nineteenth century
as the age of the special sciences. We looked to
science for enlightenment. We enjoyed new in-
ventions without number, such as the steam-en-
gine, the electric telegraph, the telephone, and
our life centered more and more about these.
But the nation having most to do with prepara-
tion for the war was the one which made the
greatest use of the special sciences. Modern
science was in fact materialized for the benefit of
a military party. As a result of our study of the
war many of us are now more interested in higher
branches of knowledge than in the special
sciences. We insist that science is for use, and
we reserve the right to say what that use shall
be. We have lost interest in science not ex-
plicitly employed for moral ends.

Again, we called attention to the nineteenth
century with great pride as the age of the phi-
losophy of evolution. We put our hopes in that
philosophy. We expected it to explain the great
mysteries. We wrote history anew, we issued
new text-books, and in a thousand ways adapted
oiu* thought to the great idea of gradual develop-
ment. But while the new philosophy accom-
plished wonders for us in so far as it showed the
reign of law, the uniformity of nature, the im-
manence of all causality, it deprived us of our
former belief in the divine purpose. Taken lit-

The New Age 3

erally, it led us to regard nature as self -opera-
tive. We had to work our way back to the di-
vine providence. We realized that evolutionism
was simply a new form of materialism. We car-
ried forward from the nineteenth century into the
twentieth many great problems of life and mind
not yet solved. The philosophy of evolution has
come to stay, but not even in the form of Berg-
son's interpretation is it satisfactory.

We also looked upon the nineteenth century
as the period of development of idealism. The
modem movement, beginning in Germany,
spread to England and the United States, and we
witnessed a most interesting form of it in our
transcendentalism. This movement, in brief,
emphasized Thought as the cardinal principle.
It sought to explain all things by reference to
this Thought. It found the starting-point as
well as the meaning in the Idea. The outward
world was regarded as a mere phenomenon in
comparison. This movement had permanent
contributions to make to our thought. We as-
sociate the name of Emerson with its spiritual
meanings. But most of its theoretical teachings
seem far removed from our practical thought to-
day. We no longer try to spin the world out
of the mere web of Thought. We need a new
idealism to replace that of Fichte and Hegel.
We are suspicious of mere speculation. The

4 The New Thought Movement

idealism of the last century is already mere mat-
ter of history.

The nineteenth century was also the epoch of
religious liberalism. Throughout the century
Unitarianism accomplished a great work. The
liberalizing tendencies spread into all denomina-
tions. We take many ideas as matters of course
nowadays for which the great leaders of the time
of Theodore Parker and James Martineau had
to contend at the risk of intellectual martyrdom.
The liberalism of the early part of the century
had a destructive work to do before the freer
thought of the day could assimilate the teach-
ings of modern science and give us our present
constructive faith. It requires decided effort on
our part today to put ourselves back to the time
when narrowing dogmas still ruled the human
.mind, when it was customary to pray for divine
'intervention, to believe in miracles as infrac-
tions of law, and to draw lines of rigid exclusive-
ness around the ecclesiastical sect to which one
happened to belong. The history of liberalism
is so comprehensive that it is always a question
nowadays what we mean when we use the term.
— ^To be liberal is to be of the new age. The real
question is, what is the goal of liberalism? The
answer which a disciple of the New Thought
would give should be understood in the light of
a long struggle for the right to employ mental

The New Age

healing, a struggle which went on almost apart,
independently of the warfare waged by Unita-
rianism upon the old doctrines and dogmas.

As in the case of the philosophy of evolution,
we have had religious liberalism long enough
with us to realize that it has a sting to it. For
the less enlightened, the smaller minds among
liberals, freedom of religious -thought developed
according to the tenets of the new or higher crit-
icism imported from Germany. Undertaking
to explain how the Bible came into being, with
the variations and errors of texts, the imperfec-
tions of language, the conflict of opinions due to
the fact that the books of which the Bible con-
sists were brought together by other hands long
after the supposed writers flourished, the critics
proved too much and exemplified a habit of judg-
ing by the letter. Biblical criticism became de-
structive and had much to do with the weaken-
ing of faith still apparent among us. If we say
that the new age is the epoch of belief in the I
spiritual meaning of the Scriptures, we must'
qualify it by saying that the greater work re-
mains to be done. Devotees of the New
Thought have freely interpreted the Bible for
themselves. What is needed is a spiritual
science of interpretation to offset the destruc-
tive work which the age accepted without know-
ing what it believed.

6 The New Thought Movement

The great century that has passed also wit-
nessed the coming of spiritism in its modern
form. In retrospect we are now able to say that
behind all that was misleading in the new move-
ment there were certain great truths which the
world needed. Old ideas of death have been
overcome, the spiritual world has been brought
nearer, and larger views of the himaan spirit
have been generally accepted. Out of the new
interest came psychical research as an endeavor
to put the phenomena of the whole field of spirit-
ism on a scientific basis. The results have been
meagre and slowly attained. But the movement
has been educational. Its positive results are
discoverable in what we have been led to think.
Although the whole field lies somewhat apart
from that of the New Thought, the mental-heal-
ing movement has profited by it. Spiritualism
is a protest against the materialism of the nine-
teenth century. It is one of the signs of the
times. We have been gradually coming to know
what spirit-return means, what a genuine mes-
sage from the other life would be. What we
want is a better philosophy than that which
psychical experiences ordinarily seem to imply.

Psychology in the sense in which we now em-
ploy the term did not exist when the New
Thought movement began. We are now so ac-
customed to the psychological point of view of

The New Age

every subject of public interest that we forget
how recent it is. Modern science in general had
to come first, then the theory of evolution, with
the attempt to explain mental life on a biological
basis, and the gradual transfer of interest to the
inner Ufe. The terms "suggestion," "subcon-
scious," and the other words which we employ
so freely are very new indeed. The old intel-
lectualism in psychology prevailed for the most
part throughout the nineteenth century. When
a psychological laboratory was established at last
it was in behalf of a physiological point of view,
and like many other theories imported from Ger-
many we have still to estimate the physiological
theory in its true estate. In the end it may seem
as far from the truth as the idealism and criti-
cism which we are in process of examining anew.
If psychology is a sign of the times we may
well remind oiu'selves that the end is not yet.
For there are many rivals in the field. The im-
plied psychology of the New Thought is essen-
tially practical and decidedly unlike that mental
science which holds that the inner life is wholly
determined by the brain. For the devotee of
mental healing the mind is what actual success
seems to prove it to be in the endeavor of the
soul to conquer circimistance. It is well to study
the history of mental healing without regard to
the psychology of the laboratories.

8 The New Thought Movement

The new age began in part as a reaction
against authority in favor of individualism and
the right to test belief by personal experience.
By acquiring the right to think for himself in re-
ligious matters, man also gained freedom to live
according to his convictions. Inner experience
came into its own as the means of testing even
the most exclusive teachings of the Church. The
seat of authority was found by some in human
reason, by others in what the Quakers call the
inward light. Thus inward guidance led the
way to another and more spiritual phase of liber-
alism. The Emersonian idea of self-reliance is
an expression of this faith in the light which
shines for the individual within the sanctuary of
the soul. After the mental-healing movement
|had been in process for half a century its dev-
otees saw in Emerson a prophet of the ideas
for which they had been laboring in their own
way, each within the sphere of his experience.
This emphasis on inner experience is a sign of
our age, but it took us a long while to read the
signs.

Now that we have passed into the social period
we are able to appreciate the individualism of
the nineteenth century. It was of course neces-
sary for man to win the right to think for him-
self, to test matters for himself, and to become
aware of his subjective life in contrast with the

The New Age 9

objective. Man had to plead for salvation as
the individual's privilege. He was eager to
prove that the individual survived death, that a
spirit could return and establish its identity*
He also had to contend for the freedom of the
individual in contrast with the tendency of evo-
lutionism to regard man as a product of heredity
and environment. Our whole modern view of
success has grown up around a new conception
of the individual. We have pleaded for man
the individual in manifold ways since modern
science made us acquainted with the theory of
physical force, its laws, processes, and conditions.
But in the twentieth century we have taken a
long step beyond the individualism with which
the modern liberal movement began. The pres-
ent is the dawning age of brotherhood. It
marks an advance not only beyond the theoret-
ical idealism which emphasized Thought as the
only reality but beyond all types of theory in
which stress is placed upon the subjective. We
have come out into the open again after the age-
long endeavor to acquaint man with the inner
life. We penetrated the inner world to gain new
insights, to acquire the psychological point of
view, to discover the psychical, to learn about
suggestion and the subconscious. We had to
learn that all real development is from within
outward according to law. Today we are en-

10 The New Thought Movement

gaged in applying our new discoveries. The
history of the New Thought is for the most part
the record of one of several contemporaneous
movements in favor of the inner life and the in-
dividual. We can imderstand it now because
ovir age has given us the contrast. To follow
that history intelligently is to see in it an effort
for knowledge and power which we now take as
matter of course. Each of us has in a measure
come to hold the present social point of view be-
cause those who went before earned for us the
right to individual salvation, gave us the inner
point of view.

It was the war more than any other event of
our century which gave us the contrast through
which we now understand the subjectivism of
the nineteenth century. The war made us aware
that we had travelled very far. It showed us
the widespread social tendency of our age. It
was the greatest objective social struggle the
world has witnessed ; for never was the autocrat,
the mere individual so effectively organized as
in this "last war of the kings." Yet never was
there such a social protest against every right
which the mere individual takes unto himself in
his eflPort to impose his ideas on the world.

As a result we now see plainly that all true
peace is social. Our nation was brought out of
its isolation into prominence as a world-power to

The New Age 11

secure this largef, lasting peace. As a result/
we realize that justice is social. We are all
pondering over the nature of social justice. We
are aware that this is the great issue, now that
we have turned from the war as an external en-
terprise to interpret the warfare of the classes.
We are pleading for moral and spiritual con-
siderations as eagerly as before. But we see
that, strictly speaking, the moral and spiritual
are neither subjective nor objective: they are>
social. Hence we look for every clue that points
toward cooperation and brotherhood. We are
passing beyond the old competitive spirit. The
nations have been brought close by working for
a common end. Never before has the world wit-
nessed such a spirit of service.

This growing awareness of the intimacy of re-
lationship of the individual with society has in-
creased with us in line with the newer thought
of God as immanent in the world, as the resident
cause of all evolution. Our thought of God has
become practical, concrete. This newer con-
ception of God also belongs with the desire of
the modern man to test everything for himself,
to feel in his own life whatever man claims to
have felt in the past that exalted him. Thus
the practice of the presence of God follows as
a natural consequence of the newer idea of man.
The liberalism which set man free from the old

12 The New Thought Movement

theology left him free where he could turn to
all the first-hand sources of religion for himself.

In a practical sense of the word we may say
that the new age is witnessing a return to the
original Christianity of the Gospels. The great
work of religious liberalism in the nineteenth
century consisted in freeing the world of theol-
ogies which we need never have believed. The
war has brought us to the point where we can
begin to appreciate what kind of social reform
Christianity would have ushered in if it had been
tried. The original teaching was social in the
larger, truer sense. It called for brotherhood.
It came to establish peace. It came that all men
might have life and have it more abundantly.
The spirit of the new age counsels us to return
to the Bible as the Book of Life. It assures us
anew that that which is spiritual must be spirit-
ually discerned. It puts the emphasis on con-
duct, on the life. It came to minister to the
whole individual. Only through social salvation
can we begin to attain its fulness.

Granted the clues which our century aflPords
us, we see clearly that the founders of Christian
theology made a serious mistake when they
divided the individual, assigning the problems
of sin and salvation to the priest and neglecting
the individual in the larger sense in which Jesus
Christ ministered to him. Our age is giving the

The New Age 13

whole individual back to us. It is like a new
discovery, this modern view of man as interiorly-
abounding in resources and outwardly social, a
brother to all mankind. The last century wit-
nessed the rediscovery of the inner life. The
present is witnessing the rediscovery of man the
social being. We are prepared at last to con-
sider the question of health as at once individual
and social. We had to understand man the
social being before we could begin rightly to
minister.

The original Christianity was a gospel of
healing in which the problems of sin and disease,
of the individual in his relation to society, were
not separated. The values of this gospel as a
religion of healing were lost to view for ages.
Our age has disclosed them anew. The mental-
healing movement came into b«ing to make these
values clear. Its pioneers had to contend for
recognition amidst universal unfriendliness.
They had to begin their work several generations
ago that we might enjoy its benefits today.
Some of the devotees had to stand for very rad-
ical views in order to attract attention. Thus
Christian Science so-called had an office to per-
form in contrast with the materialism of the age.
Extremes beget extremes. Our part is to dis-
cern the neglected truths, as old as the hills, but
covered over with doctrines and dogmas.

14 The New Thought Movement

As a reaction against the materialism of the
nineteenth century in favor of the original gos-
pel of healing, we can hardly follow the history
of the New Thought without reminding our-
selves of the age as a whole against which it was
a protest. But it would be easy to overestimate
the influence of the environment in which the
mental-healing movement appeared. A practi-
cal protest headed by people who work in a quiet
way to relieve human ills is very different from
an intellectual protest such as religious liberal-
ism. A practical protest cannot be explained by
reference to ideas alone. It is a protest in be-
half of life. It is an appeal to conduct. It be-
comes known by its fruits long before it has a
theory to give to the world. Its leaders educate
themselves, not by going through the schools
and assimilating the prevalent teachings, but by
turning away to experiment for themselves.

When the new theories have at last been pro-
mulgated, we can look back and trace resem-
blances in history as a whole. But the new theo-
ries when propounded were probably far more
out of accord with the generation in which they
appeared than in harmony with it. The new
views were for our own age, and that age had
not come. We cannot in reality explain these
views either by heredity or by reference to en-
vironment. The true explanation calls for a re-

The New Age 15

turn to the idea that there is a purpose in crea-
tion. The new development began early enough
so that it would be ready when needed.

In so far as the mental-healing movement be-
gan as a protest this protest or reaction was
made in a particular way, very different from
that of the reaction which gave us modern liber-
alism. Medical science was so far inferior to
its present estate that it is diflScult for us to put
ourselves in sympathetic imagination back in
Mr. Quimby's time, in 1840, to see why he spoke
of physicians as "blind guides leading the blind,"
as "slave-drivers" compelling the sick to enter a
bondage worse than that of slavery in the South.
We need to divest the mind of very nearly every
explanatory idea we now employ in order to ac-
count for the vigor of that reaction. The spirit
of the new age was there potentially, but it was
merely potential. Mr. Quimby was far from
being aware of it. He was simply a pioneer in-
vestigator. Matters which we now understand
by reference to psychology were still in such a
crude state that people believed in a mysterious
magnetic fluid by which a mesmeriser could put
a subject into a curious state called "sleep."
Nothing that a mental healer would call prom-
ising had yet appeared. Disease was apparently
an "entity" that attacked man from without.
Whatever man may once have known about the

16 The New Thought Movement

influence of mind upon the body had been for-
gotten. Never had a pioneer so few paths to
follow.

In retrospect, knowing the new age as we now
do, we know of course that there were clues
which might have been followed. There were
books which Mr. Quimby could have read in
which he might have learned the laws of the inti-
mate relationships of mind and body. It seems
natural for us to protest against medical mate-
rialism. We take it for granted that any one
who is in search of health will try to find help in
any direction that is promising. The gospel of
healing in the. original Christianity is so plain to
son^e of us that we wonder how any one could
have missed it. But Mr. Quimby knew nothing
about it. He had no psychological knowledge.
The only defensible view concerning his relation
to the new age which we can maintain is that the
new light was shining in the inner world and any
one who was sufficiently free from his age to
turn to it might be enlightened, even though he
were uneducated as education is commonly un-
derstood in the world.

What we shall understand the new age to
mean in this the spiritual sense of the word is
this shining of a new light which cannot be ac-
coimted for by reference to anything external.

The New Age 17

of the age as matters of material or intellectual
history would be to try to explain the higher by
the lower. All real causes are spiritual. New
leaders appear when they are needed. A new
work begins in the fitness of time according I
to the divine providence. To understand the
causes we need a measure of the same enlighten-
ment. The true verifications are those of ex-
perience. Unless you are willing to seek light
and test the principles in question for yourself
you may not expect to understand. The new
age bids us go to the som*ces for ourselves.
Those sources are discoverable through the in-
ward light, by the aid of intuition, through appre-
ciation of the spiritual meaning of the Scrip-
tures. The life comes before the doctrine. It
is the fruits which indicate the value. Hence
Mr. Quimby said that the sick were his friends.
Those who had been restored to health by spir-
itual means were convinced that there was a great
truth in the new method of healing. All the
early healers, writers and teachers were healed
in the new way, and the ideas were put forth on
the basis of experience. In following the his-
tory of the New Thought we are therefore con-
cerned with practical life. The intellectual
movements of the new age do not explain its
practical tendencies. We cannot account for the
New Thought unless we learn the sources of the

18 The New Thought Movement

gospel of healing, without which the New
Thought in its present forms would not have
come into being.

II

QUIMBY THE PIONEEE

Phineas Paekhuest Qthmby was a pioneer
in the truest sense of the word. He did not
carry on his investigations in the mental world
as the representative of any sect or school. He
was not aware that treasures lay before him in
the promised land which he was about to enter.
Few men have owed so little to the age in which
they lived. His ancestors were not in any way
remarkable. His early life gave no indication
of the public work to which his productive years
were to be devoted. He is not to be accounted
for by reference to his education in the schools
or by reference to the books which he read. Con-
sequently, there is no reason for inquiring into his
life, ancestry, and environment, as we ordinarily
study the life of a man who has been of service
to the world. At the outset he was simply an ex-
plorer in a little known region, that is, a region
little known in his day^ He was like the hardy
pioneer who makes his way through a primitive
forest unaware of his destination, unacquainted
with the difficulties along the way, and not bur-
dened by the opinions of predecessors whose ad-

19

20 The New Thought Movement

vice might have been misleading. When new
lines of inquiry are to be developed for the good
of mankind, God usually summons a man from
the common walks of life, one who is sufficiently
open and responsive to follow where the wis-
dom within him leads.

There is a great advantage in leadership of
this sort. For the pioneer becomes acquainted
with all the obstacles and grows strong by over-
coming them. Face to face with difficult situa-
tions, he must find a way to meet them. He is
led to the first-hand sources of reality. He
proves a principle which becomes to him a great
truth because of his own immediate needs, and
so he is able to appeal to tangible results by way
of verification of his teachings. But those who
merely follow, and that means the majority of
mankind in every land and in all time, believe
on authority and gradually lose touch with real-
ity. Thus new pioneers, sages, or prophets are
needed every now and then through the ages, to
lead the way back to the original sources of life
and truth. The moral would be, if we could read
it, that we should all adopt the pioneer's spirit
and explore for ourselves, learning the great les-
son taught by those who made their own way in
new fields.

The spiritual pioneer in whose career we are
at present interested lived a very simple early

QuiMBY THE Pioneer 21

•

life. Born in a small New England town, he
spent his entire life in New England, and his
work was little known outside of Maine until
after his death. He was bom in Lebanon, New
Hampshire, February 16, 1802. From there
the family moved to Belfast, Maine, when he
was about two years old. His death occinred in
the latter place, January 16, 1866, at the close of
twenty-five years in the practice of spiritual
healing.

His father was a blacksmith, and his life and
education were such as one might enjoy in the
humblest of homes in a country town in New
England. Mr. Quimby attended school as a boy
for a brief period only, and he acquired knowl-
edge of the elementary branches with such train-
ing as the district schools of the day aflForded.
The meagreness of his education is accoimted
for by the fact that there were few resources at
hand, and his father was financially unable to
give him other opportunities. If we conclude
that he was in any degree an educated man, it
will be because we deem education in the school
of experience or in the inner life superior to
that of the schools.

Mr. Quimby had an inquiring, inventive type
of mind, and dm*ing his middle life he produced
several inventions on which he obtained letters-
patent. He took great interest in scientific sub-

22 The New Thought Movement

jects but not in a way that led him to become
a reader of scientific works. Nor was he ever a
reader of books in general. His manuscripts
contain remarkably few quotations or references,
except that in his later years he frequently intro-
duced passages from the New Testament in order
to put his own interpretation upon them. He
refers to but one philosopher by name, and he ap-
pears never to have heard of the names of the
idealists, such as Berkeley and Emerson, whose
philosophy might have aided him had he been
acquainted with their works.

He felt no antagonism to the Church in his
early years, but the churches seem to have had
no direct influence upon him, and he did not
take up the study of the New Testament until
his investigations led him to a point where he
believed he had a clue to its inner meaning. Al-
though the title "doctor" has been applied to him,
he was without medical or other therapeutic train-
ing. In fact, he stood in avowed antagonism to
the "old school" in the medical world. He was
not a spiritist, despite the fact that the rise of
spiritism in the United States was contempo-
raneous with his work, and despite the resem-
blance between some of his views and the teach-
ings of spiritualists.

The reason for his lack of interest in books is
found in the fact that he regarded most books

QuiMBY THE Pioneer 23

as full of unproved assertions, whereas he was
interested to test all matters for himself. He
was fond of referring to most statements pass-
ing current in the world as knowledge in a some-
what sceptical way, since this boasted knowledge
seemed to him mere "opinion," in contrast with
truth that could be established on a basis of veri-
fiable evidence and sound reasoning. He did
not raise objections as did people trained in the
schools, through mere love of argument, but be-
cause by implication he already possessed in-
tuitively those principles which were to guide him
in his investigations. His awakening came, not
through intellectual development in the usual
sense of the word, but through the demands of
practical experience.

At the time Mr. Quimby began his investiga-
tions in the mental world he was described by a
newspaper writer as "in size rather smaller than
the medium of man, with a well-proportioned and
well-balanced head, and with the power of con-
centration surpassing anything we have ever wit-
nessed. His eyes are black and very piercing,
with rather a pleasant expression; and he pos-
sesses the power of looking at one object, with-
out even winking, for a great length of time."
His son, George A. Quimby, in the New Eng-
land Magazine, March, 1888, adds to this de-
scription the fact that Mr. Quimby weighed

24 The New Thought Movement

about one hundred and twenty-five pounds ; that
he was quick-motioned and nervous, vnth a high,
broad forehead, a rather prominent nose, and a
mouth indicating strength and firmness of will,
"persistent in what he undertook, and not easily
discouraged."

Speaking of Quimby's discoveries, Mr. Julius
A. Dresser says, "If you think this seems to
show that Quimby was a remarkable man, let
me tell you that he was one of the most unas-
suming of men that ever lived ; for no one could
well be more so, or make less account of his
achievements. Humility was a marked feature
of his character (I knew him intimately). To
this was united a benevolent and an unselfish na-
ture, and a love of truth, with a remarkably keen
perception. But the distinguishing featm*e of
his mind was that he could not entertain an
opinion, because it was not knowledge. His fac-
ulties were so practical and perceptive that the
wisdom of mankind, which is largely made up of
opinions, was of little value to him. Hence the
charge that he was not an educated man is lit-
erally true. True knowledge to him was posi-
tive proof, as in a problem in mathematics.
Therefore, he discarded books; and sought phe-
nomena, where his perceptive faculties made him
master of the situation." ^

1 Th€ True History of Mental Science.

QuiMBY THE Pioneer 25

Another writer, speaking of the impression
produced upon Mr. Quimby's patients, says,
"He seemed to know at once the attitude of mind
of those who applied to him for help, and adapted
himself to them accordingly. His years of study
of the hiunan mind, of sickness in all its forms,
and of the prevailing religious beliefs, gave him
the ability to see through the opinions, doubts,
and fears of those who sought his aid, and put
him in instant sympathy with their mental atti-
tude. He seemed to know that I had come to
him feeling that he was a last resort, and with but
little faith in him or his mode of treatment. But,
instead of telling me that I was not sick, he sat
beside me, and explained to me what my sickness
was, how I got into the condition, and the way
I could be taken out of it through the right un-
derstanding. He seemed to see through the sit-
uation from the beginning, and explained the
cause and eflFect so clearly that I could see a little
of what he meant. . . .

"The most vivid remembrance I have ... is
his appearance as he came out of his private
oflSce ready for the next patient. That inde-
scribable sense of conviction, of clear-sightedness,
of energetic action — that something that made
one feel that it would be useless to attempt to
cover up or hide anything from him — ^made an
impression never to be forgotten. Even now in

26 The New Thought Movement

recalling it ... I can feel the thrill of new life
which came with his presence and his look.
There was something about him that gave one
a sense of perfect confidence and ease in his pres-
ence — a feeling that immediately banished all
doubts and prejudices, and put one in sympathy
with that quiet strength or power by which he
wrought his cures." ^

The attitude of mind which Mr. Quimby was
in when he began to investigate is clearly indi-
cated by the following from an article written in
1863 in which he describes what he calls his "con-
version from disease to health, and the subse-
quent changes from belief in the medical faculty
to entire disbelief in it," and to the knowledge
of the truth on which he based his theory of
spiritual healing.

"Can a theory be found," Mr. Quimby asks,
"can a theory be found, capable of practice,
which can separate truth from error? I under-
take to say there is a method of reasoning which,
being understood, can separate one from the
other. Men never dispute about a fact that
can be demonstrated by scientific reasoning.
Controversies arise from some idea that has been
turned into a false direction, leading to a false
position. The basis of my reasoning is this
point: that whatever is true to a person, if he

1 A. G. Dresser, The Philosophy of P. P. Qvimby, p. 45.

QUIMBY THE PlONEEE 27

cannot prove it is not necessarily true to an- /
other. Therefore, because a person says a thing
is no reason that he says true. The greatest evil
that follows taking an opinion for a truth is dis-
ease. Let medical and religious opinions, which
produce so vast an amount of misery, be tested by
the rule I have laid down, and it will be seen how
much they are founded in truth. For twenty
years I have been investigating them, and I have
failed to find one single principle of truth in
either. This is not from any prejudice against
the medical faculty ; for, when I began to investi-
gate the mind, I was entirely on that side. I was
prejudiced in favor of the medical faculty; for
I never employed any one outside of the regular
faculty, nor took the least particle of quack medi-
cine.

"Some thirty years ago I was very sick, and
was considered fast wasting away with consump-
tion. At that time I became so low that it was
with difficulty I could walk about. I was all the
while under the allopathic practice, and I had
taken so much calomel that my system was said
to be poisoned with it; and I had lost many of
my teeth from the eflFect. My symptoms were
those of any consumptive; and I had been told
that my liver was aflFecteid and my kidneys dis-
eased, and that my lungs were nearly consumed.
I believed all this, from the fact that I had all

28 The New Thought Movement

the symptoms, and could not resist the opinions
of the physician while having the [supposed]
proof with me. In this state I was compelled to
abandon my business; and, losing all hope, I
gave up to die — ^not that I thought the medical
faculty had no wisdom, but that my case was
one that could not be cm*ed.

"Having an acquaintance who cured himself
by riding horseback, I thought I would try rid-
ing in a carriage, as I was too weak to ride horse-
back. My horse was contrary; and, once, when
about two miles from home, he stopped at the
foot of a long hill, and would not start except as
I went by his side. So I was obliged to run
nearly the whole distance. Having reached the
top of the hill I got into the carriage; and, as I
was very much exhausted, I concluded to sit there
the balance of the day, if the horse did not start.
Like all sickly and nervous people, I could not
remain easy in that place ; and seeing a man plow-
ing, I waited till he had plowed around a three-
acre lot, and got within sound of my voice, when
I asked him to start my horse. He did so, and
at the time I was so weak I could scarcely lift
my whip. But excitement took possession of my
senses, and I drove the horse as fast as he could
go, up hill and down, till I reached home; and,
when I got into the stable, I felt as strong as ever
I did."

QxnMBY THE Pioneer 29

This experience was of course only the begin-
ning. It led Mr. Quimby to doubt the diagnosis
in his case. It showed him what could be ac-
complished through a vigorous arousing out of a
state of bondage and mere acceptance. He was
not cured, but precisely what his malady was and
how it would be overcome he did not know. It
was his investigation of the phenomena of hypno-
tism, then called mesmerism, which gave him the
direct clue.

The subject of mesmerism was introduced into
the United States in 1836 by Charles Poyen, a
Frenchman, and was taken up in New England
by a Dr. CoUyer, who gave a lecture with dem-
onstrations in Belfast, Maine, in 1888. Mr.
Quimby regarded the mesmeric sleep, or hypno-
sis as it would now be called, as an interesting
phenomenon worthy of investigation, and with-
out knowing what his interest would lead to he
began to experiment, and in 1840 gave his first
public demonstrations. Whenever opportunity
offered, he had tried to put people into the mes-
meric sleep. Sometimes he failed, but again he
found a person whom he could influence.

"In the course of his trials with subjects,"
says Mr. George A. Quimby in the account
quoted from above, Mr. Quimby "met with a
yoimg man named Lucius Burkmar over whom
he had the most wonderful influence ; and it is not

80 The New Thought Movement

stating it too strongly to assert that with him he
made some of the most astonishing exhibitions of
mesmerism and clairvoyance that have been given
in modem times.

"Mr. Quimby's manner of operating with his
subject was to sit opposite to him, holding both
his hands in his, and looking him intently in the
eye for a short time, when the subject would go
into that state known as the mesmeric sleep,
which was more properly a peculiar condition of
mind and body, in which the natural senses would
or would not operate at the will of Mr. Quimby.
When conducting his experiments, all communi-
cations on the part of Mr. Quimby with Lucius
were mentally given, the subject replying as if
spoken to aloud. ...

"As the subject gained more prominence,
thoughtful men began to investigate the matter;
and Mr. Quimby was often called upon to have
his subject examine the sick. He would put Lu-
cius into the mesmeric state, who would then ex-
amine the patient, describe his disease, and pre-
scribe remedies for its cure.

"After a time Mr. Quimby became convinced
that, whenever the subject examined a patient,
his diagnosis of the case would be identical with
what either the patient or some one else present
believed, instead of Lucius really looking into the
patient and giving the true condition of the or-

QuiMBY THE Pioneer 81

gans; in fact, that he was reading the opinion
in the mind of some one rather than stating a
truth acquired by himself.

"Becoming firmly satisfied that this was the
case, and having seen how one mind could influ-
ence another, and how much there was that had
always been considered as true, but was merely
some one's opinion, Mr. Quimby gave up his sub-
ject, Lucius, and began the developing of what
is now known as mental healing, or curing dis-
ease through the mind."

That this discovery concerning the influence
of medical opinion and the influence of one mind
on another was worth pursuing to the end is
clear from Mr. Quimby's accoimt of the way he
overcame his own illness. He was still in quest
of health while experimenting with Lucius.
His investigations showed him that there was a
great discrepancy between the ordinary diag-
nosis and the actual state of a person suffering
from disease, and it occurred to him that light
could be thrown on his own malady. In fact,
he had been led to believe by the astonishing re-
sults produced in cases where Lucius made an
intuitive diagnosis that .disease itself was, as he
tells us, "a deranged state of mind," the cause
of which is to be foimd in some one's imf ortunate
belief. "Disease," he assures us, and its power
over life, its curability, "are all embraced in our

82 The New Thought Movement

belief. Some believe in various remedies, and
others believe that the spirits of the dead pre-
scribe. I have no confidence in the virtue of
either. I know that cures have been made in
these ways. I do not deny them. But the prin-
ciple on which they are done is the question to
solve ; for the disease can be cured, with or with-
out medicine, on but one principle/^

When he had discovered what that principle
was and how it could be employed, namely, by
producing changes in the mind of the patient
holding the belief in question and subject to
medical opinion, with all that this dependence
implies, he saw that it was no longer necessary
to make use of his mesmeric subject, but that
he could apply the principle directly himself.
First, however, he had to prove the principle by
recovering his own health.

"Now for my particular experience," writes
Mr. Quimby in the article quoted in The True
History of Mental Science. "I had pains in
the back, which, they said, were caused by my
kidneys, which were partly consumed. I also
was told that I had ulcers on my lungs. Under
this belief, I was miserable enough to be of no
account in the world. This was the state I
was in when I commenced to mesmerize. On
one occasion, when I had my subject asleep, he
described the pains I felt in my back (I had

QUIMBY THE PlONEEE 88

never dared to ask him to examine me, for I felt
sure that my kidneys were nearly gone), and he
placed his hand on the spot where I felt the pain.
He then told me that my kidneys were in a very
bad state, — that one was half eonsimied, and a
piece three inches long had separated from it,
and was only connected by a slender thread.
This was what I believed to be true, for it agreed
with what the doctors had told me, and with
what I had suffered ; for I had not been free
from pain for years. My common sense told me
that no medicine would ever cure this trouble,
and therefore I must suffer till death relieved
me. But I asked him if there was any remedy.
He replied, 'Yes, I can put the piece on so it
will grow, and you will get well.' At this I
was completely astonished, and knew not what
to think. He immediately placed his hands
upon me, and said he imited the pieces so they
would grow. The next day he said they had
grown together, and from that day I never have
experienced the least pain from them.

"Now what was the secret of the cure? I had
not the least doubt but that I was as he de-
scribed; and, if he had said, as I expected he
would, that nothing could be done, I should
have died in a year or so. But, when he said he
could cure me in the way he proposed, I began
to think; and I discovered that I had been de-

84 The New Thought Movement

ceived into a belief that made me sick. The ab-
surdity of his remedies made me doubt the fact
that my kidneys were diseased, for he said in
two days that they were as well as ever. If he
saw the first condition, he also saw the last; for
in both cases he said he could see. I concluded
in the first instance that he read my thoughts,
and when he said he could cure me he drew on
his own mind ; and his ideas were so absurd that
the disease vanished by the absurdity of the
cure. This was the first stumbling-block I
found in the medical science. I soon ventured
to let him examine me further, and in every
case he could describe my feelings, but would
vary about the amount of disease; and his ex-
planation and remedies always convinced me
that I had no such disease, and that my troubles
were of my own make.

"At this time I frequently visited the sick
with Lucius, by invitation of the attending phy-
sician; and the boy examined the patient, and
told facts that would astonish everybody, and
yet every one of them was believed. For in-
stance, he told of a person affected as I had been,
only worse, that his lungs looked like a honey-
comb, and his liver was covered with ulcers.
He then prescribed some simple herb tea, and
the patient recovered; and the doctor believed
the medicine cured him. But I believed the doc-

QUIMBY THE PlONEEE 85

tor made the disease; and his faith in the boy
made a change in the mind, and the cure fol-
lowed. Instead of gaining confidence in the
doctors, I was forced to the conclusion that their
science is false.

"Man is made up of truth and belief; and, if
he is deceived into a belief that he has, or is liable
to have a disease, the belief is catching, and the
eflFect follows it. I have given the experience
of my emancipation from this belief and from
my confidence in the doctors, so that it may open
the eyes of those who stand where I was. I have
risen from this belief; and I return to warn my
brethren, lest, when they are disturbed, they
shall get into this place of torment prepared by
the medical faculty. Having suffered myself, I
cannot take advantage of my fellowmen by in-
troducing a new mode of curing disease by pre-
scribing medicine. My theory exposes the hy-
pocrisy of those who undertake to cure in that
way. They make ten diseases to one cure, thus
bringing a surplus of misery into the world, and
shutting out a healthy state of society. . . .
When I cure, there is one disease the less. . . .
My theory teaches man to manufacture health ; |
and, when people go into this occupation, dis-
ease will diminish, and those who furnish dis-
ease and death will be few and scarce."

Had Mr. Quimby been willing to take ad-

86 The New Thought Movement

vantage of people, he might have continued to
employ his subject in the diagnosing of disease,
for it was evident that no one else understood
the significance of his discovery that with a
change of mind a cure would follow. If he had
been content with his own restoration to health,
he might have used his subject instead of exert-
ing himself to develop his own mental powers.
But, naturally honest and determined to get at
the truth, Quimby dropped' mesmerism once for
all. And well he might, for his experiments had
made him acquainted with himself. He saw that
the human spirit possesses other powers than
those of the senses, and can influence another
mind directly, that is, without the aid of spoken
language. He realized that he too possessed
clairvoyant or intuitive powers, and that it was
not necessary for the mind to be put into the
mesmeric sleep in order to exercise these powers.
His subject, Lucius, had done little more than
to read the mind of a patient, discover what the
person in question thought was his disease, and
then prescribe some simple remedy in which the
patient was led to believe. This was merely to
make use of suggestion, as we now call it, and
Quimby's discovery had disclosed the mind's sug-
gestibility. Mr. Quimby wanted to go further.
He was eager to know the full truth concerning
disease and its cure by the one fundamental

QuiMBY THE Pioneer 87

principle implied in all cases, whatever the ap-
pearances in favor of medicine. To have re-
mained where his experiments with mesmerism
brought him would have been to practise mental
healing simply. Mr. Quiijiby's impetus was
spiritual, and he did not rest until he had ac-
quired spiritual insight into the whole field of
the inner life. His experiments with Lucius
were merely introductory to his life work.

It is interesting to read what Mr. George
Quimby says of his father's discovery, for he was
his father's secretary for years and had oppor-
tunity to follow Quimby's work with the sick in
all its details, although he was not himself a
healer.

Mr. Quimby informs us that his father spent
years developing the method and theory of spir-
itual healing, fighting the battle alone, and la-
boring with great energy and steadiness of pur-
pose. "To reduce his discovery to a science
which could be taught for the benefit of suffer-
ing humanity was the all-absorbing idea of his
life. To develop his ^theory,' or *the Truth,' as
he always termed it, so that others than himself
could understand and practise it, was what he
labored for. Had he been of a sordid and
grasping natiu'e, he might have acquired unlim-
ited wealth; but for that he seemed to have no
desire. . • .

88 The New Thought Movement

"Each step was in opposition to all the estab-
lished ideas of the day, and was ridiculed and
jcombated by the whole medical faculty and the
great mass of the people. In the sick and suf-
fering he always found staunch friends, who
loved him and believed in him, and stood by him ;
but they were but a handful compared with
those on the other side.

"While engaged in his mesmeric experiments,
Mr. Quimby became more and more convinced
that disease was an error of the mind, and not a
real thing; and in this he was misunderstood by
others, and accused of attributing the sickness
of the patient to the imagination, which was the
reverse of the fact. 'If a man feels a pain, he
knows he feels it, and there is no imagination
about it,' he used to say. But the fact that the
pain might be a state of the mind, while appar-
ent in the body, he did believe. As one can suf-
fer in a dream all that it is possible in a waking
state, so Mr. Quimby averred that the same con-
dition of mind might operate on the body in the
form of disease, and still be no more of a reality
than was the dream."

In view of the fact that some one has tried
to belittle Mr. Quimby as an "ignorant mesmer-
ist" who never advanced beyond this crude mode
of influencing people, it is significant to read
this authoritative statement in his son's account:

QUIMBY THE PlONEEE 39

"As the truths of his discovery began to develop
and grow in him, just in the same proportion
did he begin to lose faith in the efficacy of mes-
merism as a remedial agent in the cure of the
sick; and after a few years he discarded it alto-
gether.

"Instead of putting the patient into a mes-
meric sleep, Mr. Quimby would sit by him ; and,
after giving a detailed account of what his trou-
bles were, he would simply converse with him,
and explain the causes of his troubles, and thus
change the mind of the patient, and disabuse it
of its error and establish the truth in its place,
which, if done, was the cure. . . .

"Mr. Quimby always denied emphatically
that he used any mesmeric or mediumistic
power. He was always in his normal condition
when engaged with his patient. He never went
into any trance, and was a strong disbeliever in
spiritualism, as understood by that name. He
claimed, and firmly held, that his only power
consisted in his wisdom, and in his understand-
ing the patient's case and being able to explain
away the error and establish the truth, or health,
in its place. . . .

"In the year 1859 Mr. Quimby went to Port-
land, where he remained till the summer of
1865, treating the sick by his peculiar method.
It was his custom to converse at length with

40 The New Thought Movement

many of his patients who became interested in
his method of treatment, and try to unfold to
them his ideas.

"Among his earlier patients in Portland were
the Misses Ware, daughters of the late Judge
Ashur Ware, of the United States Court; and
they became much interested in *the Truth,' as
he called it/ But the ideas were so new, and
his reasoning was so divergent from the popular
conceptions that they found it diiRcult to follow
him or remember all he said ; and they suggested
to him the propriety of putting into writing the
body of his thoughts.

"From that time he began to write out his
ideas, which practice he continued until his
death, the articles now being in the possession
of the writer of this sketch. The original copy
he would give to the Misses Ware ; and it would
be read to him by them, and, if he suggested any
alteration, it would be made, after which it
would be copied either by the Misses Ware or
the writer of this, and then reread to him, that
he might see that all was just as he intended it.
Not even the most trivial word or the construc-
tion of a sentence would be changed without
consulting him. He was given to repetition;
and it was with difficulty that he could be in-

1 See The Spirit of the New Thought, "Can Disease be Entirely
Destroyed?" by Emma G. Ware, p. 67.

QUIMBY THE PlONEEE 41

duced to have a repeated sentence or phrase
stricken out, as he would say, 'If that idea is a
good one, and true, it will do no harm to have
it in two or three times.' "

It was during the period of his more impor-
tant practice in Portland that those patients vis-
ited him who were later to spread his ideas in
the world. The first of these was Mr. Julius
A. Dresser, who went to him as a patient when
near the point of death in June, 1860, and who
became so deeply interested in Mr. Quimby's
teachings that after regaining his health he de-
voted the larger part of his time to explaining
the new ideas and methods of Mr. Quimby's
patients. Among these patients was Miss An-
netta G. Seabury, afterwards Mrs. Julius A.
Dresser; and Mrs. Mary Baker Patterson,
later Mrs. Eddy, author of Science and Health.
In 1868, Rev. W. F. Evans visited Mr. Quimby
as a patient and became at once so ardent a fol-
lower that he devoted the remainder of his life
to promulgating the spiritual philosophy im-
plied in the method and ideas which he gained
from Quimby.

It was Mr. Quimby's intention to retire from
his practice with the sick and write a book set-
ting forth his teachings in permanent form.
Had he done so, there would have been no con-
troversy over the origin of mental healing in our

42 The New Thought Movement

day, and the later writers would not have ac-
quired the habit of setting forth his views as if
they had been original enough to acquire them
out of the air by "revelation." But Mr.
Dresser always maintained that there was a wis-
dom in the delay, since the public was then un-
prepared for them. Mr. Evans, who became
the first author to develop these ideas, was per-
haps better fitted for his work than was Mr.
Quimby, since he was well read and able to put
forth those ideas which were best calculated to
win the public at the time he wrote. Mean-
while, the manuscript books into which Mr.
Quimby's articles were copied have been pre-
served and some of us have had access to them
in connection with our work of giving the new
ideas to the world.

Mr. George Quimby concludes the account
of his father's life with a brief reference to Mr.
Quimby's view- of life as a whole: "Mr.
Quimby, although not belonging to any church
or sect, had a deeply religious nature, holding
firmly to God as the first cause, and fully be-
lieving in immortality and progression after
death, though entertaining entirely original con-
ceptions of what death is. He believed that
Jesus's mission was to the sick, and that he per-
formed his cures in a scientific manner, and
perfectly understood how he did them. Mr.

QuiMBY THE Pioneer 48

Quimby was a great reader of the Bible, but put
a construction upon it thoroughly in harmony
with his train of thought.

"Mr. Quimby's idea of happiness was to bene-
fit mankind, especially the sick and suffering;
and to that end he labored and gave his life and
strength. His patients not only found in him a
doctor, but a sympathizing friend; and he took
the same interest in treating a charity patient
that he did a wealthy one. Until the writer
went with him as secretary, he kept no accounts
and made no charges. He left the keeping of
books entirely with his patients; and, although
he pretended to have a regular price for visits
and attendance, he took at settlement whatever
the patient chose to pay him. . . .

"An hour before he breathed his last he said
to the writer: 'I am more than ever convinced
of the truth of my theory. I am perfectly wil-
ling for the change myself, but I know you will
all feel badly; but I know that I shall be right
here with you, just the same as I have always
been. I do not dread the change any more than
if I were going on a trip to Philadelphia.' His
death occurred January 16, 1866, at his resi-
dence in Belfast, at the age of sixty-four
years. • . /'

Ill

QUIMBYS METHOD OF HEALING

It was a long step from dependence on the
medical practice of the day to Mr. Quimby's
experiments with his subject, Lucius. It was
a much longer step, involving a more coura-
geous departure from accepted beliefs, when he
gave up his subject and developed a mode of
treatment not at that time practised anywhere
else in the world. The first change was from
one theory of mental life to another, and the
change did not necessarily imply a different
view of the natural world. But the second was
radical. It implied a spiritual philosophy of
life as a whole. The emphasis was shifted from
human beliefs in relation to bodily processes to
divine causality and its meaning in the progress
of the human soul. Mr. Quimby's discovery
concerning the influence of belief in the cause
and cure of disease was incidental to his pro-
founder discovery that man is a spiritual being,
living an essentially spiritual life in the higher
world above the flesh, the eternal spiritual world
of our relationship with God.

The progress which Mr. Quimby thus made

44

Quimby's Method of Healing 45

was natural and logical. His experiments first
made him acquainted with the clairvoyant or
intuitive powers of his subject, Lucius, then
showed him that he too possessed such powers
and so need not depend on Lucius. His rea-
soning was that these higher powers in the hu-
man spirit imply the existence of a guiding prin-
ciple or wisdom common to us all, that this prin-
ciple is God in us; hence that the soul is in im-
mediate relation with the divine mind. Fur-
thermore, he had concluded that, whatever the ex-
planation offered, all healing takes place accord-
ing to one principle, and this too he attributed
to the divine in man. His experiments had
taught him that one mind can influence another
directly, the one being receptive, the other af-
firmative. It was but one step more to adopt
the principle that as thought may influence an-
other's mind directly spiritual power is capable
of such influence too. Hence Mr. Quimby ad-
vanced from the discovery that thoughts and
mental atmospheres affect another's mind ac-
cording to the belief or expectation to the con-
clusion that one spirit may operate directly on
another spirit, and that the basis of this spiritual C
activity is the divine in us. Although naturally
active, afih-mative in type, with exceptional
powers of concentration, Mr. Quimby was as we
have seen above also humble, not inclined to take

46 The New Thought Movement

credit to himself. It was natural, therefore,
that he should reach the highest conclusion of
all, namely, that the efficiency was divine, that
it was through the divine wisdom that he
achieved his cures.

The acceptance of these principles and con-
clusions implied a different philosophy of life
because, in the first place, it became clear that
all reality fundamentally speaking is spiritual.
Mr. Quimby did not undertake to develop his
theory into a philosophy of the universe as a
whole. That was not his province. Nor did he
have the training or the acquaintance with
idealism. The references to the outer world
which he makes in his manuscripts were purely
practical in nature, to the effect that life for each
of us is essentially what we make it by our be-
lief, our attitude or way of taking it. This atti-
tude was, for most people, so he saw clearly,
largely the effect of opinions taken for truth.
But he also saw that there was a way of taking
life which implied the supremacy of the spiritual
over the material. For him all causes were in
reality spiritual. The world springs from spir-
itual sources. Experience is for the benefit of
spiritual beings. We might then acquire a com-
plete spiritual view. This would disclose the
truth in contrast with mere opinion, the truth
which is the same for all. It would imply a spir-

Quimby's Method of Healing 47

itual science. And this science was involved in
the method by which Mr. Quimby wrought his
cures.

The instructive consideration for those of us
who are concerned to follow the development of
this philosophy and test its principles for our-
selves lies in the fact that Mr. Quimby found the
guiding principle in his own inner experience,
and proved it through the recovery of his health
and the healing of others before he found any
evidences that what he called "the truth" or
"theory" had ever been held before. Fortu-
nately, his mind was not encimibered by doctrines
which had first to be outgrown, save that he had
shared the conventional beliefs of his day in medi-
cal practice and was at least a believer in a gen-
eral way in the Bible. His real study of the
Bible began with the conclusion that the way
which life had led him was the way described in
the New Testament, hence that he had rediscov-
ered the method of healing by which Jesus
wrought, not his "miracles," but his highly intelli-
gible works of healing. His work with the sick
seemed to him to imply a spiritual science, a
"science of life and happiness," as he caUed it.
This science he found implicit in the teachings of
Christ. The Bible thus became doubly true for
him, because of his former belief in God, now
transfigured in the light of his discoveries; and

48 The New Thought Movement

because his insight into the nature and meaning
of life had made plain the way to the spiritual
interpretation of the Scriptures. His manu-
scripts are for the most part devoted to a study
of his experiences with the sick in such a way as
to show that the truths they implied were the
truths which Jesus came to reveal.

Just as his guidance had led him to attribute
his cures, which were indeed remarkable, to the
divine efficiency, not to any power which he, the
man Quimby, possessed ; so now he looked to the
Bible as containing a higher than human wisdom,
a wisdom which he called "the Christ" in contrast
with the man Jesus who came to teach this science
of the Christ. Had Mr. Quimby been under-
stood by the writer who later did more than any
one to popularize the less profound principles for
which he stood, the history of the mental-healing
movement might have been very different. For
what Mr. Quimby intended was that all should
come to recognize the divine wisdom in them-
selves, that they should take no credit to them-
selves, should not exalt the finite self; but
should acquire and teach the spiritual principles
which Jesus gave to the world as a science, call-
ing attention to that science, not to themselves.

According to Mr. Quimby's version of this
Christian science, as he calls it in two of his arti-
cles, although his usual term is "the science of life

Quimby's Method of Healing 49

and happiness," the emphasis is put upon the
truth which sets the soul free. For his practice
with the sick had taught him that when a patient
understood the real causes of his trouble the dis-
ease could be banished. The "explanation is the
cure," he repeatedly said. This explanation in-
volved the discovery of the inner or spiritual
point of view. The emphasis being put upon the
truth, Mr. Quimby did not make use of "de-
nials," as the affirmations were later called by
those who grasped this theory in part only.
When the truth is seen, it is not necessary to deny
its opposite. The error or "false belief" that led
to the trouble was negative or destructive. The
truth through which the cure was wrought was
positive or constructive. What Mr. Quimby en-
deavored to do was to build up a different atti-
tude toward life on the basis of principles which
all could understand.

Mr. Quimby's departure from the point of
view of his experiments therefore involved a radi-
cal change in attitude towards a patient. The
mesmeriser or hypnotist merely tries to influence
or control another's mind, as Quimby directed
Lucius. But the spiritual healer regards him-
self as an organ of the divine life, a means only,
not a controlling agent. He does not try to in-
fluence. He makes no attempt to control. He
has no desire to control or manage. He regards

60 The New Thought Movement

himself as a lamp -bearer disclosing the way out
of the dark places of the soul into the light of the
divine wisdom. There can be no freedom and
no cure unless the patient sees for himself.
Thus Mr. Quimby was healer and teacher at the
same time. Unless we understand this two-fold
office which he fulfilled, we are likely to misin-
terpret statements, such as the proposition that
"disease is an error the only remedy for which
is truth," and we are in danger of dismissing
many of his views as absurd.

To understand what Mr. Quimby meant is to
see that he regarded every man in the light of the
divine guidance. That is, there is divine wisdom
for each of us, resident within us, accessible
through intuition. Mr. Quimby was the friend
of those who needed to be brought into relation
with the divine within them. He sought the
guidance for the individual in question, according
to need, for the occasion. Naturally then there
could be no mere formula or arrangement of
words, no magic affirmation by which to dismiss
a disease as with a gesture of command. There
was no reason to deny either what the patient
thought was his disease or the physical symptoms,
to ignore the body or make light of the natural
world. What was needed was a new point of
view of all these things. The misinterpretation
of symptoms would disappear with the accept-

Quimby's Method of Healing 51

ance of the true view. The bodily effect would
be understood when the cause should become
plain. The flesh would assume its proper place
in the light of the new spiritual vision. Mr.
Quimby aimed at nothing short of a religious or
spiritual conversion such that the whole of life
should appear under a different aspect. This
wonderful work he wrought for his more respon-
sive followers. It is not surprising that they be-
came his friends and found occupation for a life-
time in the development of his teachings.

There was one more discovery which we need
to bear in mind in order to have Mr. Quimby's
method completely before us. His practice with
the sick in the early years while he was acquiring
his method taught him that there is much more
in the himian mind than we are ordinarily or even
at any time conscious of. Not by any consent on
our own part have we become the recipients of
the beliefs, notions, and ideas which give us our
erroneous views of life. We have taken them on
from our mental envbonment. Our minds are
fertile places in which beliefs germinate. The
mind in this deeper, hidden sense, is indeed very
much like the soil. It consists of spiritual sub-
stance, "spiritual matter" was Quimby's term
at first. Its products directly influence us and
our bodies without the intervention of the will.
It is indeed unconscious or subconscious. But

62 The New Thought Movement

this hidden mind is accessible to the spiritual
healer. Its contents can be discerned. The hid-
den and disturbing influences can be brought to
light. Changes wrought within it will become
manifest in the body. It is in fact an intermed-
iary between mind and body, an intermingling
substance.

In contrast with the beliefs discoverable in this
hidden mind, Mr. Quimby in the constructive
part of his treatment addressed himself to the
"real man," the spirit, who needed to be sum-
moned into power. He held that there is a part
of the soul that is not sick, that is potentially or
ideally one with God in image and likeness. For
God did not create man to be ill. He created
him for health and freedom. Disease is the in-
vention of man through misinterpretation of sen-
sation, through judgments based on appearances,
on symptoms, effects, externals. Health is ours
by divine birthright, hence by implication in our
very being in that "secret place" of the soul, that
part of us that can never be ill. This element of
our selfhood can be smnmoned into activity. We
can become aware of it and begin to live by it.
We can throw off our bondages. We can learn
to live as God would have us live.

The silent spiritual treatment which was Mr.
Quimby's chief discovery, his greatest gift to the
world, consisted in a process of inner realization

Quimby's Method of Healing 53

calculated to awaken this inner spiritual nature
into exercise. The intuitive diagnosis with
which the treatment began led the way to the
main point, the centre of need in the patient. It
disclosed the real as opposed to the apparent con-
dition. It yielded the divine guidance for the
occasion, according to the need. The spiritual
realization then grew out of the intuitive discov-
ery of the patient's inner state. It was made ef-
fective by Mr. Quimby's great power of concen-
tration quickened by his consciousness of the di-
vine wisdom, his practical way of realizing the
presence of God. The treatment was spiritual
rather than mental since the thought or idea was
secondary to the power, the human agent or
organ secondary to the divine wisdom. Mr.
Quimby had no way of his own to impose on an-
other's mind. Hence his spirit was open to "the
wisdom of the occasion."

In setting forth his method of treatment, Mr.
Quimby always drew a distinction between the
lower mind which he called "spiritual matter"
(or substance) , and the mind we might come into
possession of by learning our true nature as spir-
itual beings. Thus he says in one of his articles,
"My theory is founded on the fact that mind is
matter; and, if you will admit this for the sake
of listening to my ideas, I will give you my
theory . . . All knowledge that is of man is

54 The New Thought Movement

based on opinions. This I call this world of
[spiritual] matter. It embraces all that comes
within the so-called senses. Man's happiness
and misery are in his belief; but the wisdom of
science is of God, and not of man. Now to sep-
arate these two kingdoms is what I am trying to
do; and, if I succeed in this, I shall accomplish
what never has been done. ... I should never
imdertake the task of explaining what all the
wise men have failed to do but for the want of
some better proof to explain the phenomena that
come under my own observation. . . . The reme-
dies have never destroyed the cause, nor can the
cause be destroyed by man's reason. . . .

"The world of opinions is the old world: that
of science is the new ; and a separation must take
place, and a battle must be fought between them.
. . . Now, the science of life and happiness is
the one that has met with the most opposition,
from the fact that it is death to all opposers. It
never compromsies with its enemies, nor has it
any dealings with them. ... Its habitation is in
the hearts of men. It cannot be seen by the nat-
vu*al man, for he is of matter; and the scientific
man is not matter. All he has is his [spiritual]
senses. There is his residence for the time, . . .
It is almost impossible to tell one character from
another, as both communicate through the same
organs. As the scientific man has to prove his

Quimby's Method of Healing 65

wisdom through the same matter that the natural
man uses, he is often misrepresented. . . . This
was where Christ found so much trouble in his
days, for the people could not tell who was speak-
mg.

Mr. Quimby described human life as a war-
fare between the spiritual power in man and the
opinions which relate and bind him to the nat-
ural world. When he says, "My foundation is
animal matter or life," he refers to the lower mind
with its opinions. "This," he says, "set in action
by Wisdom, produces thought. Thoughts, like
grains of sand, are held together by their own
sympathy, wisdom, or attraction." The natural
man is composed of these groupings of ideas.
"As thought is always changing, so man is always
throwing off particles of thought and receiving
others. Thus man is a progressive idea; yet he
is the same man, although he is changing all the
time for better or worse." That is, he changes in
the direction of the world with its opinions or to-
wards God in His wisdom.

"Disease is the invention of man, and has no
identity in Wisdom," that is, no place or pur-
pose in the divine providence. It can be over-
come because the mental life underlying it is of
this lower mind which can be changed by the
Wisdom which "decomposes the thoughts,
changes the combinations, and produces an idea

56 The New Thought Movement

clear from the error that makes a person un-
happy or diseased." "Ideas have life. A belief
has life . . . for it can be changed." Man is un-
wittingly a "sufferer from his own belief. . . .
Our belief cannot alter a scientific truth, but it
may alter our feelings for happiness or misery.
Disease is the misery of our belief, happiness is
the health of our wisdom, so that man's happiness
or misery depends on himself." The difficulty
does not lie with sensation, for "sensation con-
tains no intelligence, but is a mere disturbance
which ... is ready to receive the error, that is,
respond to an erroneous interpretation. . . .
Ever since man was created, there has been an
element called error which has been busy invent-
ing answers for every sensation."

Mr. George Quimby, in endeavoring to make
clear this point of view, uses the following illus-
tration: "Suppose a person should read an ac-
count of a railroad accident, and see, in the list of
killed, a son. The shock on the mind would
cause a deep feeling of sorrow on the part of the
parent, and possibly a severe sickness, not only
mental but physical. Now, what is the condition
of the patient? Does he imagine his trouble?
Is his body not affected, his pulse quick ; and has
he not all the symptoms of a sick person, and is
he not really sick? Suppose you can go to him
and say to him that you were on the train, and

Quimby's Method of Healing 57

saw his son alive and well after the accident, and
prove to him that the report of his death was a
mistake. What follows? Why, the patient's
mind undergoes a change immediately ; and he is
no longer sick. It was on this principle that Mr.
Quimby treated the sick. He claimed that *mind
was spiritual matter,' and could be changed;
that we were made up of truth and error ;*that
disease was an error, or belief, and that the
Truth was the cure. And upon these promises
he based all his reasoning, and laid the founda-
tion of what he asserted to be the 'science of cur-
ing the sick.' " *

In one of his articles, written in 1861, Mr.
Quimby thus describes his method of cure: "A
patient comes to see Dr. Quimby. He renders
himself absent to everything but the impression
of the person's feelings. These are quickly
daguerreotyped on him. They contain no intel-
ligence, but shadow forth a reflection of them-
selves which he looks at. This [mental picture]
contains the disease as it appears to the patient.
Being confident that it is the shadow of a false
idea, he is not afraid of it. Then his feelings in
regard to health and strength, are daguerreo-
typed on the receptive plate of the patient. . . .
The patient sees . . . the disease in a new light,
gains confidence. This change is daguerreo-

1 The Philoiophy of P. P. Quimby, p. 18.

68 The New Thought Movement

typed on the doctor again • . . and he sees the
change and continues . . . the shadow changes
and grows dim, and finally disappears, the light
takes its place, and there is nothing left of the
disease." ^

A writer in the Jefersoman of Bangor, Maine,
in 1857, thus expounds Quimby's view: "A gen-
tleman of Belfast, Maine, Dr. Phineas P.
Quimby, who was remarkably successful as an
experimenter in mesmerism some sixteen years
ago, and has continued his investigations in psy-
chology, has discovered, and in his daily practice
carries out, a new principle in the treatment of
diseases. . . . His theory is that the mind gives
immediate form to the animal spirits, and that the
animal spirit gives form to the body, as soon as
the less plastic elements of the body are able to
assimie that form. Therefore, his first course in
the treatment of a patient is to sit down beside
him, and put himself en rapport with him, which
he does without producing the mesmeric sleep.

"He says that in every disease the animal
spirit, or spiritual form, is somewhat discon-
nected from the body, and that, when he comes
en rapport with a patient, he sees that spirit
form standing beside the body, that it imparts
to him all its grief and the cause of it, which may
have been mental trouble or shock to the body,

1 Ihid, p. 51.

Quimby's Method of Healing 59

as over-fatigue, excessive cold or heat. This of
course impresses the mind with anxiety, and the
mind reacting upon the body produces dis-
ease* • • •

**Dr. Quimby says that there is no danger
from disease when the mind is armed against it.
That he will treat a person who has the most mal-
ignant disorder without danger to himself,
though his sympathy with the patient is so strong
that he feels in his own person every symptom of
the disease; but he dissipates from his mind the
idea of it, and induces in its place an idea of
health.

"He says the mind ... is what it thinks it is,
and that, if it contends against the thought of
disease, and creates for itself an ideal form of
health, that form impresses itself upon the an-
imal spirit, and through that upon the body, that
his understanding is a positive power, and aids
the spirit, which is not strong enough in itself to
contend against the idea of diseases." *

For the term "animal spirit" as used by this
writer one should substitute the unconscious, the
spiritual substance or "spiritual matter" of Mr.
Quimby's later teaching, together with his teach-
ing that the individual gives off a mental atmos-
phere as a rose gives off an odor by the discern-
ment of which the healer can detect the patient's

1 PhUoiophy of P. P. Quimby, p. 29.

60 The New Thought Movement

interior state; otherwise the above account gives
an intelligible idea of the psychological aspect
of the treatment. Mr. Quimby held that there is
a spiritual body between the natural body and
the human spirit. In this he agreed with seers
of an earlier time, and pointed the way to the
idea of the intimate correspondence between the
spirit and the body. He did not teach that the
spirit-forms of the departed occupy our bodies,
or that disease in any of its forms is due to obses-
sion.

Another interested observer wrote as follows
in an article in the Portland Advertiser, Feb-
ruary, 1860: "In every age there have appeared
individuals possessing the power of healing the
sick and fore-telling events. Their theory or
explanation veils this power in superstition and
ignorance, so that the world is not enlightened in
regard to where it comes from or how it ope-
rates. We only know the effects. Spiritualists,
mesmerists, and clairvoyants, making due allow-
ance for imposition, in later times have proved
that this power is still in existence.

"Like this in the vague impression of its char-
acter, but infinitely beyond any demonstrations
of the same intelligence and skill, is the practice
of a physician who has been among us . . . and
to whose treatment some helpless invalids owe
their recovered health. I refer to Dr. P. P.

Quimby's Method of Healing 61

Quimby. With no reputation except for hon-
esty, which he carries in his face, he has estab-
lished himself in our city, and his success merits
public attention. Regarded by many as a harm-
less humbug, by others as belonging to the genus
mystery, he stands among his patients as a re-
former, originating an entirely new theory in re-
gard to disease, and practising it with a skill and
ease which only come from knowledge and ex-
perience. His success in reaching all kinds of
diseases, from chronic cases of years' standing
to acute diseases, shows that he must be prac-
tising upon a principle different from what has
ever been taught.

"His position as an irregular practitioner has
confined him principally to the patronage of the
credulous and the desperate ; and the most of his
cases have been those which have not yielded to
ordinary treatment. Those only who have been
fortunate enough to receive benefit from him can
have any appreciation of the interest which the
originality of his ideas excites, and of the benefit,
when understood, which they will be to society.

"To attempt to describe his mode of treatment
to the well would be like offering money to an
already wealthy man; while the sick person who
is like one cast into prison for an unjust debt,
can tell the force of his system. With a sym-
pathy which the sick alone call forth, and a

62 The New Thought Movement

knowledge which he proves alone to them, he
leads an invalid along the path to health. His
power over disease arises from his subtle knowl-
edge of mind and its relation to the natural
world, to which his attention was turned some
twenty years ago by mesmerism.

"His investigation in this region, hitherto un-
satisfactorily explored, has developed in him a
clairvoyant faculty, which he exercises with his
reason and natural senses, and has yielded to him
facts which he explains upon a principle ad-
mitted, but little understood, educing therefrom
a theory of universal application by which he
cures disease." ^

This account, coming from one who had noth-
ing to gain or lose, shows how Mr. Quimby's
work was regarded when he began to practise
in Portland. His deep sympathy for suffering
humanity was noted by all. His work appealed
to those who would be called credulous or those
who had been given up by other practitioners,
because they had the receptivity or willingness
to try this method when other methods had
failed. He impressed upon all who were suffi-
ciently interested to inquire into his views the
fact that he endeavored to put his work on the
basis of intelligible explanation. Hence he
sought to clear away all sense of mystery and to

1 Ibid, p. 26.

Quimby's Method of Healing 68

show that there was nothing akin to medinmship
in the silent treatment. His own exceptional
power as a man was of course a factor in estab-
lishing a cure. Everybody who knew him has
borne testimony to this power. But Mr.
Quimby always insisted that the works he
wrought could be reproduced. In fact, he held
that spiritual healing would some time take
place in less time, and by "word of mouth," when
the underlying principle should be understood.

Still another writer, in an article in the Port-
land Advertiser J 1862, signing herself "Ver-
mont," gives first-hand impressions of Mr.
Quimby's method : "Many people who have lost
faith in the ancient school are at the same time
startled by such reasoning as Dr. Quimby uses
with regard to disease. It is so contrary to the
coHMnonly received opinions, they hardly dare
believe there can be any truth in it. They hear
of remarkable success in his practice, but are
still more incredulous, and say, 'The age of mir-
acles has passed away, and this is too much to
beUeve.' But 'seeing is believing,' . . . and
after having an opportunity to see some of the
remarkable effects which Dr. Quimby has had
upon obstinate cases of long-standing disease,
they are compelled to yield, although it may be
reluctantly, that there is living truth in his prin-
ciples, that he has cast off the shackles of opinion

64 The New Thought Movement

which would narrowly enclose the limits of in-
vestigation, and, studying the mysterious work-
ings of the mind, discovered there the true ex-
planation of that which has so long been mis-
understood and imsatisfactorily accounted for.
They came to him suspicious, almost unwilling
to believe what they saw, ignorant of his theory,
which, even after it was explained, they found
difficult to imderstand, and therefore had to go
through with this process of gradual conviction
before they would receive its truths. So it may
be said that he has to contend Mdth those who
would be his friends as well as his enemies. . . .

"According to this new theory, disease is the
invention of man. It is caused by a disturbance
of the mind . . . and therefore originates there.
We can call to mind instances where disease has
been produced instantly by excitement, anger,
fear, or joy. Is it not the more rational con-
clusion that disease is always caused by influences
upon the mind rather than that it has an identity,
comes to us, and attacks us?

* 'Living in a world full of error in this respect,
and educated to believe that disease is something
we cannot escape, it is not strange that what we
fear comes upon us. We take the opinions of
men, which have no knowledge in them, for truth.
So we all agree to arbitrary rules with regard
to our mode of life, and suffer the penalties at-

Quimby's Method of Healing 65

tached to any disobedience of the same. These
diseases or penalties are real to us through the
result of belief.

"It is reasonable to infer from these state-
ments that the only way to approach and eradi-
cate disease must be through the mind, to trace
the cause of this misery, and hold up to it the
light of reason or disbelief in the existence of
disease independent of the mind. Then the
cloud which shadows us vanishes, as error always
will when over-powered by the light of truth.

"Dr. Quimby proves the truth of his belief
by his daily works. The marvellous cures he is
effecting are undeniable evidences of his superior
knowledge and skill in applying it for the bene-
fit of suffering humanity. He does not use
medicine or any material agency, nor call to his
aid mesmerism or any spiritual [spiritistic] in-
fluence whatever, but works on scientific prin-
ciples, the philosophy of which may be under-
stood by the patient. . . .

"Accepting this new theory, man rises supe-
rior to circiunstances. Easily adapting himself
to any necessity, free from all fear of disease, he
lives a more simple, natural, and happy life. He
is enabled to control the body, and make it sub-
servient to his will instead of his being a slave
completely at its mercy, which he will be if he al-
lows that it is subject to disease. This truth is

\

66 The New Thought Movement

capable of extensive application in all the ex-
igencies of life, and we leam to make constant
use of it as we advance in knowledge. It helps
us to place a just estimate upon everything, the
value of life is enhanced; and, as we have more
of this true knowledge in ourselves, we shall
love and worship God, who is the source of all
wisdom, more sincerely and intelligently." ^

When we note that the writer of this clear
statement of the possibilities of wider and wider
application of Mr. Quimby's teaching went to
Quimby as a patient suffering from a disease of
long-standing and in every way a devotee of the
older way of thinking about life and disease, we
realize how great was the change sometimes
wrought by his treatment and the conversations
which followed. Here we have an indication at
least of the spiritual effect produced by the
change. We have a different attitude toward
life, one that looks forward aflSrmatively to suc-
cess. We note that the new teaching applies
not only to disease but looks beyond this to
triumph over circumstances in general, in favor
of a simpler, happier mode of life. It also gives
a religious outlook, and in a very practical way
directs attention to God as the immanent source
of all wisdom.

Speaking in general of those whom one has

1 Philosophy of P. P, Quimby, i^, 29.

Quimby's Method of Hjeaung 6?

known well enough to see how radical was the
change wrought under Mr. Quimby's treatment
and instruction, it may be said that his greatest
power came from the quickening sense of the
divine love and wisdom which he carried in his
presence. His method of sitting silently by the
sick to learn the real state of the inner life as
spiritual light should disclose it, enabled him to
make the presence of God more vivid than it is
ordinarily made by prayer and public worship.
He was prompted by earnest desire to do good.
His patients came to him in need, often in great
distress of mind and body, sometimes at the
point of death. He was aroused by this need
and this desire to do his utmost, and was able
fully to give himself to his work. His power
increased with the years. His courage and faith
strengthened him to persist in the new mode of
healing despite the fact that he was alone and
subject to adverse criticism on every hand. Un-
der these circumstances it was natural that the
spiritual consciousness which his presence in-
spired should be the really great result of his
work.

Looking back over the years in the light of the
good that has come from this work, we see plainly
that sufficient power was with him to win this
triumph and make this deep impression. The
value of his work was on the side of power, in

68 The New Thought Movement

the impetus which he gave, an impetus sufficient
to quicken those who were to transmit his ideas
and methods, and apply them in their own way.
This sense of power came from the fact that as
a pioneer he found the great sources for himself
and spoke from experience. What he com-
municated was life. His "theory," as he called
it, was secondary to this. He did not impose his
theory upon others or try to give it the authority
of a "revelation." All those who have written
about this theory in the papers have put their
own construction on it to some extent. The
early authors and teachers developed his views
in their own way. But behind the various ver-
sions of his teaching was the strong evidence of
his power and of his works. No one ventured
to^ heal as he did while he continued in practice,
for no one had the confidence in view of his re-
markable cures. The spiritual impetus, how-
ever, had been given, and in the course of time
the results were seen.

When we look back over history we find that
something like this has always been the result.
The spiritual pioneer, sage or prophet, has ac-
complished the work, conveyed the impetus.
Followers have appeared who gathered about
the new leader, observed his work, acquired his
ideas. Then after his death the spreading of
his ideas variously stated and interpreted has

Quimby's Method of Healing 69

begun. Some of the followers have been very
loyal. Others have taken credit to themselves.
There have been disputes, and eventually a scat-
tering of forces or a division into sects has come
about. The moral always has been: return to
the sources, see what the original impetus was,
put yourself in line with it and test it for your-
self; pay little attention to the later effete re-
statements or the controversies, but try to grasp
the spiritual truth and put this in relation with
other truths.

The further inference in the case of Mr.
Quimby would be : return to the Bible to see if it
be true that it contains an inner or spiritual
meaning, to see if indeed there be a neglected
science of the Christ in the New Testament,
implying principles of universal application
through spiritual healing. If so, this inner or
spiritual truth may be the great truth of the
new age, it may imply the second coming of the
Lord in deepest reality. If so, let us look back
of the superficial theories of merely mental heal-
ers to find touch anew with the original spirit-
ual impetus. It need not concern us that so
many have tried their hands at the spiritual in-
terpretation of the Bible that there is a mere
confusion of tongues. In the Bible itself there
undoubtedly is a science of spiritual things which
all might imderstand alike. Mr. Quimby had

70 The New Thought Movement

at least the vision of it. His practice with the
sick was in some measure at least a rediscovery
of the original therapeutic gospel. Its applica-
tion to healing is a part only of the science which
came to give men fulness of life. But healing
had been the neglected part of the gospel. It
was necessary that some one should arise to
specialize upon this. Such in brief was the work
given Mr. Quimby to do. This was the work
he accomplished with such impressive success.

IV

THE FIEST AUTHOR

In 1863, Mr. Quimby received as a patient
one who was to accomplish a very important
work in the promulgation of the new theory and
practice of healing. This was Rev. Warren
Felt Evans, of Claremont, New Hampshire.
Mr. Evans had been in poor health for several
years, having suffered from a nervous break-
down coupled with a chronic disorder that had
failed to respond to the methods of treatment
then in vogue. Having heard of Mr. Quimby's
remarkable cures, he visited Portland on two oc-
casions to receive treatment by the new method.
His expectations were more than realized. Mr.
Evans was not only healed of his maladies, but
became so deeply impressed by the practice and
teachings of the new therapeutist that he studied
the new method and later began to apply it, hav-
ing first developed the implied philosophy in his
own terms. The turning-point came one day
while in conversation with Mr. Quimby. Mr.
Evans remarked that he believed he could cure
by the same method and Mr. Quimby encour-
aged him to think that he could. Accordingly,

71

72 The New Thought Movement

Mr. Evans made the venture as soon as oppor-
tunity offered, after his return home, and the
first attempts were so successful that the way-
opened for him to devote the remainder of his
life to authorship and the healing of the sick.

Mr. Evans, who was bom in 1817 and died
in 1889, was by profession a clergyman until this
great change came into his life. He belonged
to the New Church, and he appears to have been
an average exponent of Swedenborg's teachings,
so far as one may judge by his writings, for ex-
ample. The New Age and its Messenger, 1864,
published after he visited Mr. Quimby, but
surely written before, since it gives no evidence
of any change of view. Mr. Evans was also well
acquainted with philosophical idealism. He pos-
sessed the ability to grasp fundamental princi-
ples and think them out for himself. He had
all the essentials, so far as spiritual principles
were concerned; for the devotee of Swedenborg
has a direct clue to the application of spiritual
philosophy to life. What Mr. Evans lacked was
the new impetus, to put two and two together.
He lacked the method by which to apply his
idealism and his theology to health. Mr.
Quimby gave him this impetus. He possessed
the method. Mr. Evans with ready perception
saw the connection and was quick in his discern-
ment of the values of the new practice.

The FntsT Author 73

Mr. Evans had given little evidence of orig-
inality in his earlier writings, since his chief in-
terest was to spread knowledge of Swedenborg's
doctrines. But in his first book on spiritual heal-
ing, or "mental science," as he sometimes called
it, he branched out in a freer style of thought
and undertook to win attention for the new views
without at first indicating their origin. In his
second book, however. Mental Medicine, Bos-
ton, 1872, he ventm^es to use the phraseology he
had acquired from Mr. Quimby and to mention
the pioneer therapeutist by name. He says:

"Disease being in its root a wrong belief,
change that belief and we cure the disease. By
faith we are thus made whole. There is a law
here the world will sometime understand and use
in the cure of the diseases that afflict mankind.
The late Dr. Quimby, one of the most success-
ful healers of this or any age, embraced this
view of the natm^e of disease, and by a long suc-
cession of most remarkable cures proved the
truth of the theory and the efficiency of that
mode of treatment. Had he lived in a remote
age or country, the wonderful facts which oc-
curred in his practice would have been deemed
either mythical or miraculous. He seemed to
reproduce the wonders of the Gospel history."

Rev. W. J. Leonard, in The Pioneer Apostle
of Mental Science, Boston, 1903, says that one

74 The New Thought Movement

who knew Mr. Evans intimately "reiterates this
sentiment in a letter to the writer ... in the
following words : *In his estimation, Dr. Quimby
was the highest authority in the science of heal-
ing, and a man of noble character and purest
aims, which Dr. Evans believed were indispens-
ably necessary to bring one into the perfect peace
and the harmony with the Divine Life required
to teach or heal the sick and suffering with suc-
cess.' Not only was Dr. Evans fair enough to
honor his master in the science, but, with the
humility and modesty of the truly great soul,
he made no attempt to claim that the truths he
presented were absolutely new."

It is interesting also to read the testimony of
one who knew both Mr. Quimby and Mr. Evans,
who followed the latter's work with great inter-
est, doing what was possible to make his books
known in the world. In The True History of
Mental Science y Mr. Julius A. Dresser says:
"Dr. Evans obtained this knowledge of Quimby
mainly when he visited him as a patient, mak-
ing two visits for that purpose about the year
1863, an interesting account of which I received
from him at East Salisbury in the year 1876.
Dr. Evans had been a clergyman up to the year
1863, and was then located in Claremont, N. H.
But so readily did he understand the explana-
tions of Quimby, which his Swedenborgian faith

The Fiest Author 75

enabled him to grasp the more quickly, that he
told Quimby at the second interview that he
thought he could himself cure in this way."

Mr. Evans's first book, The Mental Cure, Bos-
ton, 1869, is important for our purposes for sev-
eral reasons. It was the first volume issued in
our coimtry on this subject. It was soon widely
read in this country and Eiu-ope, where it was
translated into several languages. It gave ex-
tensive publicity to the new ideas for the first
time. It contains something like a demonstra-
tion of the truth of the principles for which it
pleads, that is, by reference to facts and sound
inferences based on facts; and it is still superior
for this reason to most of the New Thought
literature of today. More significant still, per-
haps, from a historical point of view, is the evi-
dence it gives of a transitional point of view.
For while the author branches out freely and
expounds Swedenborg's views in his own fashion,
he is still largely dependent on the teachings of
the Swedish seer and his interpretation is more
sound. In Mental Medicine, 1872, and Soul
and Body, 1875, all published before Science and
Health, by Mrs, Eddy, Evans develops the same
views in a supplementary way. But in the
volume ordinarily referred to as his best book
and the one which had most to do with giving
shape to the New Thought, The Divine Law of

76 The New Thought Movement

Cure, 1881, Mr. Evans shows that he has been
reading the philosophical idealists, and that he
has changed his views to some extent, as we shall
presently see.

Turning to The Mental Cure, we find him
making liberal use of the teachings of Sweden-
borg concerning the influx of the divine life
into the human soul, the theory of the relation-
ship of mind and body, the correspondence of
all things natural with all things spiritual, and
the conception of causality as essentially spirit-
ual. He does not draw upon the theological doc-
trines so much as on those which may be called
in general spiritual. Adopting Swedenborg's
psychology, he endeavors to verify this in his own
way, and to substantiate his argument for spirit-
ual healing by appeal to well-known physical
facts and the principles of physiology.

We may summarize Mr. Evans's theory as
put forth in this volume as follows: The start-
ing-point of all reason is with the idea of God,
regarded as the source of all life in the universe
and in the soul of man. The true science or
philosophy would give us a complete view of
things in the light of their causes, their relation-
ship to and dependence on God. Man, created a
form recipient of the divine life, is in inmost
essence divine, and this divinity within him
remains imtainted whatever the vicissitudes

The Fiest Author 77

through which man passes. In short, there is
an inextinguishable divine spark which may be
fanned into flame, despite all appearances to the
contrary.

In actuality, however, man is very far from
recognition of this his divine birthright and in-
terrior privilege. There is a blinded or disor-
dered activity of the mind in its outward form.
There is an antagonism between the inmost es-
sence and the selfhood of man as commonly re-
garded. Hence the mental and physical unhap-
piness and misery through which man passes.
Hence the need of distinguishing between hu-
man nature as it was designed to be, as it ever is
in the ideal sense of the word ; and human nature
in a state of moral, intellectual and physical dis-
order.

Very much depends, therefore, upon our
knowledge of and insight into the human self
in relation to God. The starting-point, always
should be with the inner man, the spirit or soul.
The life of the soul is received by influx from
God, the source of all our life. All men are in-
carnations of the divine. "In all men the Divin-
ity becomes finitely human." The soul receives
its form from the divine spirit within. It is in
the human form, yet the significance of this form
is that it is made in the image and likeness of
God. The mind is not then formless and un-

78 The New Thought Movement

substantial, as we sometimes say in our ignor-
ance; but it consists of real substance, that is,
spiritual substance, and is definitely formed ac-
cording to the divine ideal. Nor is the mind con-
fined to the brain, or limited in form by the
brain's substance and activity. The mind per-
vades and is interfused throughout the body, and
is coextensive with the physical organism. It
thrills in every nerve and pervades every fibre.
In brief, the body corresponds or answers to
the spirit, and Tihanges brought about in the
spirit manifest themselves in the bodily organ-
ism ; since mind or spirit is a higher, diviner force
"approaching many degrees nearer the Central
Life." We also see how this intimate relation-
ship between soul and body is possible when we
remember that matter with all its properties is
merely a modification of force, and that all caus-
ality operating in physical force is spiritual in
the last analysis.

Within the spirit itself there are orders and
degrees. The spiritual degree, that is, our in-
most nature, may and ought to control the na-
tural degree, hence the animal instincts, the
bodily activities which foster man's best estate.
The spirit is endowed with both will and under-
standing. The understanding is recipient of the
divine wisdom, the will receives the divine love.
Thus love in us is central, fundamental. Love

The Fibst Author 79

is our very life. When we act from love we act
from the divine life in us. Love in this the
hi^er or interior sense of the word is the "mov-
ing force of soul and body," the "hidden spring
that moves life's machinery." The divine love
within us may become "our foimtain of health."
If there is harmony between the will and the un-
derstanding, unity in the inner life, there is spirit-
ual health, and if spiritual health then bodily
health. Disease, in essence mental, not physical,
is due to loss of balance between the imderstand-
ing and the will, between the intellectual and af-
fectional departments of our nature. In say-
ing all this, Mr. Evans is adapting Sweden-
borg's psychology so as to find sure place for
the truths concerning disease and its cure which
he has learned from Mr. Quimby.

Tracing out the discord between the will and
the understanding which underlies disease, Mr.
Evans further says that disease arises from some
false idea which has become too prominent, some
feeling that is inordinate or uppermost in such
a way that conflict results and the body responds.
To restore the balance is to cure the soul, hence
the body. As every mental condition records
itself in the body, when the state of mind is
changed the bodily correspondence manifests it.
In developing this view of the relationship of the
soul to the body, Mr, Evans makes use of Swed-

80 The New Thought Movement

enborg's teaching in regard to the spiritual body,
which he interprets as the "seat of all sensation,"
agreeing with Quimby that the physical body in
itself is destitute of feeling and intelligence.

Otherwise stated, sensation belongs, not to the
bodily organs in which we seem to feel it, but
to our "inner nature." The "inner form is the
prior seat of all diseased disturbance in the
body." Disease so-called is only an outward or
visible effect of the inner disturbance. The
symptoms are not the disease. The body is in-
capable of generating a disease by itself. Nor
is disease an entity or force that seizes us from
without. We cannot interpret the bodily condi-
tion correctly unless we see in it an outward ex-
pression of the inner state to which it corre-
sponds.

Mr. Evans finds expression for Quimby's
teaching that every one gives off a "mental at-
mosphere" which discloses the inner condition
by adopting Swedenborg's view of "spiritual
spheres." "This doctrine of spiritual spheres,"
he says, "is of great importance in mental
philosophy, but has been almost wholly ignored.
In the system of Swedenborg it has been given
that prominence that belongs to it. Every
angel, every spirit, every man, is surrounded by
a spiritual sphere of affection and thought, or
radiant circles of an emanating force, within

The First Author 81

which he imparts — often silently and uninten-
tionally — ^his own feelings and ideas. . . . There
are persons who exert a secret but powerful in-
fluence over those who come in contact with the
sphere of their inner nature. This influence is
good or bad, happy or depressing, elevating or
degrading, according to the confirmed aflfectional
state or ruling love of him from whom it pro-
ceeds. For it is to be borne- in «iind, that it goes
forth primarily from the love which constitutes
the soul life. If the mental state be joy or mel-
ancholy, gladness or sorrow, contentment or im-
patience, faith or fear, it affects others with a
like feeling, in a degree proportioned to their im-
pressibility. In this way the mind propagates
its own prevailiQg condition, and all our mental
states are contagious." ^

This is an intelligible statement of a point
essential to Quimby's theory. If we were to
take Quimby's statement that "disease is an error
of mind" literally, it would doubtless seem ab-
surd; for obviously we have not consciously
thought ourselves into disease. But in Quimby's
view we are unaware of the effect of our beliefs
because ignorant of our whole deeper nature,
that is, our impressibility, the growth of ideas
within our minds, the influence of the mind on
the body through the intermediate substance, the

iP. 70.

82 The New Thought Movement

subtle influence of one mind on another through
mental atmospheres, the power of the spirit to
see through and master disturbing mental states
by realizing the greater reality of man's true na-
ture. If the later devotees of mental healing
had taken account of all the factors noted by
Quimby and explained so clearly by Evans in
this his first statement of it, they would have in-
quired into the nature of spiritual influx and cor-
respondence and would have adopted an es-
sentially spiritual view of the whole field. In-
stead of a new "thought," instead of almost ex-
clusive emphasis on suggestion or afiu*mation, we
might have had a new spiritual philosophy em-
bracing the larger truth of the new age.

Mr. Evans develops the idea of a spiritual
cure by pointing out that as disease of body is
caused by disordered and morbid states of the
spiritual life, so by inducing the opposite states
disease can be overcome. What is needed in
the first place is the power, such as Quimby
possessed, "intuitively to detect the morbid state
of the mind underlying the disease," and to see
how to "convert the patient to a more healthful
inner life." All disease in origin is an insanity.
Its cure is the attainment of sanity,. The prob-
lem is to know how to induce any desired mental
state. Mr. Evans does not claim that this can
be done by the human self alone. He does not

The Fiest Author 88

put the emphasis on finite thought, or what
would now he called "suggestion." The true
order of life, he assures us, is that in which our
hearts are open to "receive the influx of the
divine and heavenly life," with a desire "to im-
part the good, with which we are blessed, to all
who are willing to receive it. Such ... is the
normal state of every soul. It is evident we can
never attain to the highest well-being of either
soul or body, until we come into the divine order
of our existence, and employ the activity with
which we are endowed, according to the laws of
the celestial life." ^

The central difiiculty with us is that the divine
impulse within us is "perverted in its action,
our love terminates in self, and we become the
centre of our universe." Selfishness then is the
griHiary trouble, "the fruitful root of more
moral and physical evil and unhappiness, than
any other cause. . . . Disease is only a state of
supreme selfishness." Even insanity, especially
in the form of melancholia, is selfishness in its
origin. Sexual emotion is another cause. In
such emotion, when perverted, is the "root of
more diseases of body and mind than can be
traced to any other source. The sexual and con-
jugal love is most intimately connected with the
inmost life of the spirit, and is the fountain of

84 The New Thought Movement

more unhappiness or misery than originates with
any other aflfection, according as it is properly
controlled, or left to a disorderly activity and in-
dulgence." ^

In thus tracing matters to their fountain-
soiu^ce, taking his clue from Swedenborg, Mr.
Evans anticipates Freud and his school by more
than a generation. Freud has traced many if
not most nervous disorders to repressions of the
love-nature. Hence he places fundamental em-
phasis on the sexual instinct. But his view is
purely psychological. It is developed out of
the cruder facts of the inner life, arrived at
through the interpretation of dreams. Mr.
Evans gives us the whole context of the love-
nature and shows its high origin on the spiritual
side. From his point of view there could be no
merely mental cure. The true cure would be,
as Quimby had shown, in the discovery of our
real inner nature as recipient of the divine life.

The theory of an essentially spiritual cure
starts with the principle that there is but one
source of life, that life emanates from this one
living centre, from God, and is communicated to
all, is communicable to others through us. The
remedy for all our ills is at hand. "Make the
heart of something outside your own being to
leap for joy. Attune your soul in harmony

iP. 2fl4.

The Fiest Author 86

with the Divine Life. Live^to love, and then
you will delight to live; and health will glow and
thrill in every organic structure. Find some
one whose condition is unhappily hke your own.
Lift up your hand and yoiu* heart, and pull down
a blessing upon his head. . . . Be, like Jesus,
every one's friend. Seek to make everybody
and everything happy . . . Get well by curing,
others. Impart life, communicate from your
own stock of vital force to others, and life from

God. . . r^

Faith is an important element in the cure. It
is a "spiritual force that has accomplished won-
ders ... an actual psychological or spiritual
force. To believe that we can do a thing,
especially if that faith is the result of an tmder-
standing of nature's laws, empowers us to do it.
To believe that we are well, or that we are going
to become so, excites a spiritual force within us
that goes far towards making us so. . . . The
lack of faith is the loss of one of the essential
elements of a sound mental state, which imder-
lies, as a foundation, a healthy bodily condition.
In the . . . healer it is a positive mental force,
in the patient a receptive mental state." ^ Fearj
is its opposite, and produces equally striking
eflFects in the generation of diseased conditions

1 Pp. 219, 920,

2 PJ). 249, 243.

86 The New Thought Movement

of the body. The healer should induce the spirit-
ual state which drfves out fear, should establish
as a permanent possession the state which is the
opposite of that causing the disease. The great-
est motive power in this inducing of the desirable
spiritual state is love, which sets the spiritual
forces within us in operation. "Just as far as
any one receives into himself the pure imselfish
love of God — a love that in him is an irrepres-
sible desire to communicate good — so far there
is in him a power to impart life and health and
peace to others." ^

Agreeing with Quimby, Mr. Evans finds the
same method taught in the New Testament.
"When," he says, "we assert that life is com-
municable ... we occupy undisputed ground.
It was in harmony with this recognized law of
our being that Jesus cured diseased humanity.
He laid down his life for men — an expression
that has no reference to his death . . . Jesus
^healed . . . first the mind, then the body. He
removed the spiritual cause of disease, and the
physical effect ceased. He carried his sanative
influence into both departments of our being, the
inner and the outer. This was done by the law
of sympathy — a law of the mind that means more
than the world has ever understood. By it one
mind transmits its states of feeling and modes

iP. 266.

The First Author 87

of thought to another. • • • Jesus thus imparted
to the sick and wretched the cahn happiness of
his own loving and gentle heart. ... In this
way Christ carried his healing power into the
realm of spiritual causes. He addressed him-
self as a spirit to the spirit of the patient.'' ^

Here we have the heart of the spiritual method
as developed by Mr. Quimby. To address one-
self as a spirit to another spirit is far more than
merely to transfer thought or feeling to another.
The element of feeling is a factor. Hence the
strong emphasis which Mr. Evans puts upon
sympathy. The intellectual element is also a
factor, and Mr. Evans shows that there is a
"sanative power in words," for example, in the
affirmation, "I am strong," in such statements
as, "Go in peace; Be of good cheer, thy sins are
forgiven thee; Be it unto thee according to thy
faith." Here we find the factor which the New-
Thought people have made so much of since the
days of writers like Henry Wood. But Evans
always shows the superiority of the love-element,
the divine influx into the heart. The right
directing of the will seems to him more impor-
tant than the use of such an affirmation as "I am
strong." For he sees clearly that the disease
springs from the inner hfe in general, not from
mere belief ; hence the cure must touch the whole

1 Pp. 239, 256, 268.

88 The New Thought Movement

spirit. To address oneself as a spirit to the
spirit of the patient is indeed to rise to our high-
est privilege as a human being.

In the preface to his Divine Law of Cure,
1881, Mr. Evans gives the clue to this his best
known book as follows: "Idealism, which has
always had strong hold upon the deepest think-
ers of the world from Plato downward, is again
coming into prominence . . . The system of
Berkeley is undergoing a resurrection, and, in
connection with the spiritual philosophy of
Swedenborg, will have more influence than ever
in shaping the metaphysical systems of the fu-
ture, and in giving direction to the current of
human thought. The present volume of the au-
thor is an attempt to construct a theoretical and
practical system of phrenopathy, or mental-
cure, on the basis of the idealistic philosophy of
Berkeley, Fichte, Schelling, and Hegel. Its
fundamental doctrine is that to think and to ex-
ist are one and the same, and that every disease
is the translation into a bodily expression of a
fixed idea of the mind and a morbid way of think-
ing. If by any therapeutic device you remove
the morbid idea, which is the spiritual image
after the likeness of which the body is formed,
you cure the malady. The work lays no claim
to originality except in the practical application
of idealism to the cure of the diseases of mind

The Fiest Author 89

and body. It is the culmination of a life-long
study pf human nature, and to which the previous
volumes of the author may be viewed as intro-
ductory," ^

Mr. Evans plainly believed that this was his
chief book. Whatever opinion we may hold con-
cerning the change from his first book to this
one, we must chronicle the fact that it was this
applied idealism with its proposition that "to
think and exist are one and the same" which has
had great influence in the mental-healing move-
ment. We here find Mr. Evans saying less
about the larger view of man's spiritual nature,
with its emphasis on will and the prevailing love
or affection, and employing the terms which his
later studies in idealism led him to adopt. Prob-
ably he did not intend to give up the spiritual
in favor of the intellectual view. His practical
method was surely as effective as before. By
implication the term "thought" as he now uses
it is as rich as the former terms, and when he
now uses the term "mind" we may doubt whether
he has given up the idea of the spirit which was
central in the teaching of his first book. But
unluckily everybody is influenced by language,
and, unless we are extremely explicit, people fail
to see that we mean something "spiritual" when
we use psychological terms. Hence we note

ip. 9.

90 The New Thought Movement

that the terininology of this book has sometimes
been more influential than its spirit. This is an
important point for our history.

Neglecting his former emphasis on the himtian
spirit as recipient of power and life from the
spiritual world, Mr. Evans now says, "Mind is
the only active power in the universe . . . Mind
is the only causal agent in the realm of matter,
and certainly in the himian body ... As the
body is the creation of the mind, and is always
its ultimation or outward expression, a chronic
disease is the fixedness of a thought, the petri-
faction of a morbid idea. Thoughts or ideas
are the most real things in the universe. They
are the interior soul of things, and the underlying
reaUty of all outward and visible objects . . .
The mind is the real man, and its thoughts act
on the body as a spiritual poison, or as a mental
medicine, for health and disease, in their spirit-
ual essence, may be resolved into modes of think-
ing. A man is well so long as he thinks, feels,
and believes himself so, for to be sick and not
know it is all the same as not to be sick." ^

This is meant to be a profound doctrine, not
the superficial one which it sometimes led to on
the part of devotees of mental healing not so
well-read as Mr. Evans was in the literature of
idealism. When he says that "thought is a

1 Pp. 203, 204.

The First Author 91

creative power," he does not intend to take any-
thing from the thought of God as Creator, he
is not exalting the finite ego. He has in mind
what he elsewhere in this book calls the "precon-
scious," the term which he prefers to the "mi-
conscious." By this he means "intelligent men-
tal action beyond the range of the external con-
sciousness," our latent thought and intelligence.^
He speaks of thought as the "grand character-
istic of man," as belonging to the essence of the
soul. He does not neglect what he has pre-
viously written about love as "the life of man,"
as Swedenborg affirms; but is more inclined to
emphasize thought as "the existence or outward
manifestation, of that vital element or prin-
ciple." He regards the quality of the life of
love as dependent on the character of man's
thoughts. He interprets the self-determining
power which we call free will to be "thought" in
its essence.^ Hence everything depends for him
upon man's power to turn his thoughts into an-
other direction. Here Mr. Evans approaches
the more recent psychological emphasis on at-
tention as the determining factor in our mental
life.

Having restated the entire theory of the
origin and nature of disease with the term

iP. 179.
2 p. 253.

i

92 The New Thought Movement

"thought" as central, Mr. Evans proceeds to a
restatement of the mental cure. He bases his
proposition that there is a "healing power of
thought" on "the Hegelian principle that
thought is a creative force." It is a "funda-
mental idea of Hegel's philosophy," he tells us,
"that everything in its last analysis, or when we
come to its inmost reality, is only a thought.
What we call the external world and the human
body, which is a part of it, are the thought of
God, and we come to know them only so far as
we think of them. They are revealed to us by
the same power that creates them. Disease, like
every other thing, is created, or, at least has an
^iT-istence only by thought. In the phrenopathic
method of cure, it is a fundamental principle that
thought is the ground of all reality." ^

One might neglect the bodily conditions of
disease and almost come to believe that nothing
exists save when we are thinking about it, if one
were to take too seriously Evans' statement that
a "thing, a world, a disease, comes into our con-
sciousness only when we think of it." He seems
to forget for the moment that our thinking about
it has nothing to do with the existence of the
world, that our consciousness is for the most part
involuntary, and that nothing ceases to exist
when we cease to think about it. If to "bring

iP. ^58.

The First Authoe 93

disease into the realm of unconsciousness" be
all that we need do to make it "unreal," it would
indeed be a simple matter to banish all disease
from the world.

Mr. Evans had offered a really fundamental
view of disease in his first book, by tracing it to
selfishness and showing that its cure means spirit-
ual regeneration. He does not now speak of
healing as the operation of one spirit on another
by drawing upon the inflowing life from the
spiritual world. He still puts the emphasis on
the divine mind, and by this he means the Spirit
in all its fulness. But he speaks of the mind
of the patient as a "clean slate on which our
thoughts may be written," and says that what
"we imagine, and believe, and think, will be
transferred" to the patient; and so he tends to
give prominence to the intellectual factors of the
silent treatment.^ It would be easy for the su-
perficial reader to seize upon "thought" as the
dominant factor and overlook the spiritual mean-
ings which Mr. Evans had previously given to
the term.

In this volume as in his earlier books, Mr.
Evans frequently quotes from Swedenborg, at-
tributing to him the doctrine that "man is so
made that he can apply life to himself from the
Lord." He says that Swedenborg viewed the

1 p. 279.

94 The New Thought Movement

external world as the ultimation of the spu-itual
universe. He also makes use of Swedenborg's
teaching in regard to spiritual influx and corre-
spondence. But when he couples the name of
Swedenborg with idealism, as he understands it,
and says that "all time and space, as Kant and
Swedenborg affirm, are in ourselves — that is,
within the enclosure of our spiritual being";
when he attributes our experience of space to
"the space-creating power of the soul," ^ Evans
is reading subjective idealism into Swedenborg
and throwing his readers upon the wi'ong track.
He declares that "all the objects of nature are
phenomena or appearances, as Hegel, Fichte,
Berkeley, Swedenborg, and all the ideaUsts af-
firm." ^ He has been reading the idealists so
much of late that he forgets his Swedenborg, who
surely never taught that "all outward things
are but the exteriorization of ideas." ^ Nor did
Swedenborg teach that "thought is the primal
force and the greatest power in the world." He
did not identify existence with thought, but
characterized God as the "divine love and the
divine wisdom," teaching that there are two pow-
ers in man recipient of these, the will and the
understanding (the intellect). As thus re-

1 Pp. 107, 147.

2 p. 15^.

8 285.

The First Author 95

cipient of life from God, man is primarily a
spirit, spirit is substantial, and the body corre-
sponds to the spirit. Swedenborg was not, prop-
erly speaking, an idealist, if by the term "ideal-
ism'' we have in mind the idealism of Fichte and
Hegel. Swedenborg's works lead the reader
into the objectivism of our true relationship in
the spiritual world. They put the emphasis on
love, hence on conduct, and avoid over-emphasis
on human thought.

The distinction is important. For if, taking
seriously Evans's declaration that to think and
exist are one and the same, we follow his theory
of disease and its cure, we are likely to acquire a
psychology without a body, we are apt to think
too lightly of the natural world and to make the
road to salvation appear easier than it is. To
see that for the time being Evans is interested
in the theoretical and on the whole impractical
idealism of Fichte, is to realize that he is tem-
porarily neglecting the spiritual philosophy of
Swedenborg with the clue to Quimby's teaching
it gave him in the early years. There was
really no reason to "attempt to construct a
theoretical and practical system of phrenopathy,
or mental-cure, on the basis of the idealistic
philosophy." Mr. Evans already possessed a
better philosophy. He did not improve either
his terminology or his practical me\\\o^\s^ ^^

96 The New Thought Movement

change. What he did do was to mark out the
way of thinking which devotees of mental healing
in the mental-science period followed by em-
phasizing thought as "creative," as the greatest
force in the world. The universe became less
substantial for the mental healer as a result.
The mental doctrine became the popular one.
The profounder view of the spiritual life of Mr.
Evans's first book was for the most part neg-
lected. Readers of Mrs. Eddy's Science and
Health found a somewhat similar interpretation
of the idealism of Berkeley in her writings.
Thus in the mental-science period preceding
what is now known as the New Thought, both
those who began with Evans and those who
started with Mrs. Eddy arrived at much the
same conclusion; the universe lost for them a
part of its reality, and the process of working
back to the profounder view was made difficult.

ti*

THE BEGINNINGS OF CHRISTIAN SCIENCE

It is important to give brief attention at this
point to the origin of Christian Science, since
the therapeutic movement as a whole has felt
the influence of this the most radical view during
the past forty years. Moreover the testimony
of Mrs. Eddy to Quimby's work and teaching is
significant. It gives us another interpretation.
It puts us in touch with a line of thought which
competed with Mr. Evans's teaching in produc-
ing "mental science," the forerunner of the New
Thought. We can hardly follow the later his-
tory intelligibly unless we have all the clues in
our possession. We undertake this part of our
inquiry in the spirit of the truth-seeker, without
any desire to enter into a controversy regarding
the indebtedness of one leader to another. We
may bring forward the chief facts and leave them
to speak for themselves.

In The True History of Mental Science,
which was originally a lecture delivered in Bos-
ton at the request of people who wished to know
the relationship of the various phases of the

97

98 The New Thought Movement

therapeutic movement to one another, Mr. Julius
A. Dresser says:

"Among those who were friends as well as
patients of Mr. Quimby during the years from
1860 to 1865, and who paid high tributes to his
discoveries of truth, and the consequent good to
many people and to the world, was one who, for
some strange reason, afterward changed and
followed a different course, with which you all
are more or less familiar. I refer to the author
of Science and Health. As she had during sev-
eral years special opportunities to know the man
and to learn truth of him, this record would be
incomplete without including her testimony at
that time. Fortunately it can be given in her
own words ; and you can form your own estimate
of them.

"When the lady became a patient of Quimby,
she at once took an interest in his theory, and
imbibed his explanations of truth rapidly. She
also took a bold stand, and published an accoimt
of her progress in health in a daily paper. The
following is an extract from her first article thus
published, which appeared in the Portland
Evening Courier in 1862:

" *When our Shakespeare decided that "there
were more things in this world than were dreamed
of in your philosophy," I cannot say of a verity
that he had foreknowledge of P. P. Quimby.

The Beginnings of Christian Science 99

And when the school Platonic anatomized the
soul and divided it into halves, to be reunited by
elementary attractions, and heathen philosophers
averred that old Chaos in sullen silence brooded
o'er the earth until her inimitable form was
hatched from the egg of night, I would not at
present decide whether the fallacy was found in
their premises or conclusions, never having dated
my existence before the flood. . • . When from
the evidence of the senses my reason takes
cognizance of truth, although it may appear in
quite a miraculous view, I must acknowledge
that as a science which is truth uninvestigated.
Hence the following demonstration:

" 'Three weeks since I quitted my nurse and
sick-room en route for Portland. The belief of
my recovery had died out of the hearts of those
who were most anxious for it. With this mental
and physical depression I first visited P. P.
Quimby, and in less than one week from that
time I ascended by a stairway of one hundred
and eighty-two steps to the dome of the City
Hall, and am improving ad infinitum. To the
most subtle reasoning, such a proof, coupled,
too, as it is with numberless similar ones, demon-
strates his power to heal. Now for a brief
, analysis of this power.

" 'Is it spiritualism? Listen to the words of
wisdom. "Believe in God; believe also in me;

100 The New Thought Movement

or believe me for the very works' sake." Now,
then, his works are but the result of superior
wisdom, which can demonstrate a science not un-
derstood: hence it were a doubtful proceeding
not to believe him for the works' sake. Well,
then, he denies that his power to heal the sick is
borrowed from spirits of this or another world;
and let us take the Scriptures for proof. "A
kingdom divided against itself cannot stand."
How, then, can he receive the friendly aid of
the disenthralled spirit, while he rejects the faith
of the solemn mystic who crosses the threshold
of the dark imknown to conjure up from the
vasty deep the awe-struck spirit of some invis-
ible squaw?

" *Again, is it by animal magnetism that he
heals the sick? Let us examine. I have em-
ployed electro-magnetism and animal magnet-
ism, and for a brief interval have felt relief,
from the equilibriimti which I fancied was re-
stored to an exhausted system or by a diffusion
of concentrated action. But in no instance did
I get rid of a return of all my ailments, because
I had not been helped out of the error in which
opinions involved us. My operator believed in
disease independent of the mind; hence, I could
not be wiser than my teacher. But now I can
see dimly at first, and only as trees walking, the
great principle which underlies Dr. Quimby's

The Beginnings of Christian Science 101

faith and works; and, just in proportion to my
light, perception, is my recovery. This truth
which he opposes to the error of giving intelli-
gence to matter and placing pain where it never
placed itself, if received understandingly,
changes the currents of the system to their nor-
mal action ; and the mechanism of the body goes
on imdisturbed. That this is a science capable
of demonstration becomes clear to the minds of
those patients who reason upon the process of
their cure. The truth which he establishes in
the patient cures him (although he may be wholly
linconscious thereof) ; and the body, which is
full of light, is no longer in disease. At present
I am too much in error to elucidate the truth,
and can touch only the key-note for the master-
hand to wake the harmony. May it be in essays
instead of notes, say I. After all, this is a very
spiritual doctrine; but the eternal years of God
are with it, and it must stand firm as the rock
of ages. And to many a poor sufferer may it
be found, as by me, "the shadow of a great rock
in a weary land." ' " ^

Mr. Dresser comments on this article as fol-
lows: "It will be observed, by noting the fore-
going statements closely that the lady did imder-
stand that disease is a state of mind and the
truth is its cure until this experience with Quimby

1 Quoted in The True History of Mental Science, revised ed^
p. 29.

102 The New Thought Movement

took place ; and it will be seen how rapidly, dur-
ing the three weeks' experience referred to, she
had been grasping that truth, and seeing that it
was a true science, and that it was curing her-
self. It is now easy to see just when and just
where she 'discovered Christian Science.' " ^

It is interesting to digress from the above ac-
count and look back a little to see how and why
Mrs. Eddy, then Mrs. Patterson, came to visit
Mr. Quimby. In 1899 I had in my temporary
possession a series of letters addressed to Mr,
Quimby, which no one except their owner, Mr.
George A. Quimby, had seen for more than
thirty years until they came into my hands,
March 1 of that year, for consultation in the
preparation of an article published in The Arena,
Boston, May, 1899. I give the summary here
in condensed form as printed in that article.

The letters are chiefly of a personal character,
and I shall mention them only so far as they con-
cern the public, since it is unnecessary to do more.
I shall confine myself to the mere statement of
facts, the purpose of this brief statement being
to set at rest the question concerning Mrs.
Eddy's loyalty to Mr. Quimby previous to the
publication of her book.

The first of these letters is dated Rumney, N,
H., October 14, 1861, and is addressed by Dr. D.

1 Ibid, p. 39.

The Beginnings of Christian Science 108

Patterson to "Dr. Quimby," soliciting the aid
of the latter's "wonderful power," for the re-
storation of his wife, who for a number of years
had been an invalid, "unable to sit up." Then
follow fourteen letters signed by Mrs. Patterson,
bearing dates beginning May 29, 1862, and end-
ing July 25, 1865; and written from Rumney,
and Sanbomton Bridge, N. H., Saco and War-
ren, Me., and Lynn, Mass. The first is a letter
of appeal, expressing "entire confidence" in the
"philosophy" of Mr. Quimby, and asking him
to come to heal her, since if he does not save her,
she must surely die — after six years of severe
invalidism. Then follows a letter from a Hill
(N. H.) water-cure, where Mrs. Patterson had
gone for treatment, as Quimby could not come
to her, which expresses the hope that she may
yet reach Quimby, as she believes herself suffi-
ciently "excitable," to live through the journey.
This was in August, 1862; for in my father's
journal . . . under date of October 17, 1862, I
find mention of her. The next letter, written
after her return home, is dated "Jan. 12, '63," and
refers to the benefit received from a distant
mental treatment which removed all her pain in
a remarkable way, and speaks of herself as "a
living wonder and a hving monument of your
power," as a result of which "five or six of my
friends are going to visit you." She hopes soon

104 The New Thought Movement

to accompany her sister, Mrs. Tilton, to Portland
to see Quimby. She says of herself, "I eat,
drink, and am merry; have no laws to fetter my
spirit now, though I am quite as much of an
escaped prisoner as my dear husband was." ^
The letter expresses firm faith in Quimby's
theory of disease, and reveals a clear understand-
ing of it. She applies terms to disease which ap-
pear both in Quimby's manuscripts, and in
Science and Health. She says further, "I mean
not again to look mournfully into the past, but
wisely to improve the present . . . My ex-
planation of your curative principle surprises
people.'*

The following letters relate to slight ailments
for which Mrs. Patterson solicits Quimby's help,
express utmost confidence in him, and show that
she is spreading his ideas, defending him, defin-
ing the difference between his theory and spirit-
ualism, as well as making some effort to apply
the healing principle. These letters are also
full of gratitude and good wishes, of the love
which the student feels for the revered teacher.

In one of these letters, dated "Saco, Sept. 14,
'63," Mrs. Patterson says, "I would like to have
you in your omnipresence visit me [absent men-
tal treatment] at 8 o'clock, this if convenient."

iThis reference is to Mrs. Eddy's second husband, Dr. Pat-
terson.

The Beginnings of Christian Science 105

A later letter is dated Warren, Me., April 10^
1864, and describes a lecture given by Mrs. Pat-
terson, in which she outlined Quimby's theory,
and once more distinguished his teaching from
spiritualism. An earnest desire is expressed to
engage in a more public work, and applications
have already come to her both for treatment and
for articles upon the subject. But she declares
that she is not yet out of her "pupilage." The
next letter expresses a yet deeper desire to realize
the ideal of the higher life, to perfect herself that
she may help others, and shows warm apprecia-
tion of the spiritual side of Quimby's teaching.
There is a noticeable variation in the handwriting
in portions of this letter, and in general the hand-
writing of these letters reveals a variety of moods.
From time to time Mrs. Patterson encloses
money in payment for absent treatments.

Again, she speaks of Quimby's work as a
"science," which has had as clear a demonstration
in her case as any experiments she has "witnessed
in clairvoyance." On one occasion she meets an
acquaintance who was formerly editor of The
Banner of Lights to whom she explains Quimby's
philosophy. "He thought you a defunct spir-
itualist ; before I quitted him at Berwick, he had
endorsed your science." She quotes from mem-
ory, in another letter, the public announcement
of her address in Warren, Me., "Mrs. M. M.

106 The New Thought Movement

Patterson will lecture at the Town Hall one
week from next Wednesday on P. P. Quimby's
spiritual science [for the] healing [of] disease —
as opposed to Deism or Rochester Rapping Spir-
itualism." In the first letter from Warren, she
reports having said to a friend when speaking of
Quimby's power, "Why even the winds and the
waves obey him." Again, "Dear Doctor, what
could I do without youf "I will not bow to
wealth for I cannot honor it as I do wisdom."
The following letter closes thus: "May the
peace of wisdom which passeth all understanding
be and abide with you. — Ever the same in grati-
tude." A later letter asks, "Who is wise but
you? What is your truth, if it applies only to
the evil diseases which show themselves . . .
Doctor, I have a strong feeling of late that I
ought to be perfect after the command of science.
... I can love only a good, honorable, and brave
career; no other can suit me."

Writing from Lynn, Mass., July 8, 1864, Mrs.
Patterson speaks of the severe illness of her
husband, earnestly wishing that Quimby were
there to help, and stating that her husband only
laughs when she explains the "truth" to him.
She closes by asking, "Can you not prevent my
taking it, and lend relief to him?" The last let-
ter is the emotional cry of the mother heart, be-
cause of the probably fatal illness of her son

The Beginnings of Christian Science 107

George, at Enterprise, Minnesota. The same
unquestioning faith in the wonderful power of
Mr. Quimby is expressed, with an earnest appeal
to him to save her son, for whom she expresses
the highest regard. There is not in these letters
the least attempt to discredit Quimby's power as
an enlightened healer, not the slightest mention
of magnetism or electricity, and no suspicion that
his treatment is not regarded as of a high spir-
itual character. On the contrary, a longing is
expressed to attain as high a level, and there is
every reason to believe that the temptation to
claim the great new truths as her own, came later
when the field was free. It is noticeable, how-
ever, that the temperament is one of great sus-
ceptibility to the pains of others ; and there is con-
stant appeal to Quimby to free her from these
pains.^

While these letters were in my possession in
1899, I showed them to trustworthy people who
certified that they were in Mrs. Eddy's hand-
writing, and expressed surprise that one who for-
merly held Mr. Quimby in such high esteem,
should trample upon his reputation, claiming his
hard-won laurels as her own, borrowing his ideas,
adopting his method of treatment, and even stat-
ing in print that his writings may have been
"stolen" from her published works!

1 End of summaiy from The Arena, May, 1899.

108 The New Thought Movement

The day after the publication of the article
contributed by Mrs. Eddy to the Evening
Courier, in 1862, it was adversely criticized by
the Portland Advertiser. Mrs. Patterson re-
plied and among other things said :

"P. P. Quimby stands upon the plane of wis-
dom with his truth. Christ healed the sick, but
not by jugglery or with drugs. As the former
speaks as never man before spake, and heals as
never man healed since Christ, is he not identified
with truth, and is not this the Christ which was in
him? We know that in wisdom is life, 'and the
life was the light of man.' P. P. Quimby rolls
away the stone from the sepulchre of error, and
health is the resurrection. But we also know
that 'light shineth in darkness, and the darkness
comprehendeth it not.' " ^

"These excerpts," says Mr. Dresser, "are in
plain language, and they speak for themselves.
The statements are made with too evident an un-
derstanding of their truth to be doubted or ques-
tioned, or afterward reversed in any particular.
It should be borne in mind that your speaker was
there at the time, and was familiar with all the
circvmistances she relates and the views ex-
pressed. The devoted regard the lady formed
for her deliverer, Quimby, and for the truth he
taught her, which proved her salvation, was con-

1 The True History of MerUal Science, p. 32

The Beginnings of Christian Science 109

tinued to be held by her from this time, ( the au-
tumn of 1862) up to a period at least four years
later; for in January, 1866, Quimby's death oc-
curred, and on February 15 she sent to me a
copy of a poem she had written to his mem-
ory, and accompanied it by a letter commencing
in these words: 'I enclose some lines of mine
in memory of our much-loved friend, which, per-
haps, you will not think over-Wrought in mean-
ing, others must, of course/ " ^

The title of this poem is significant: "Lines
on the death of P. P. Quimby, who healed with
the truth that Christ taught, in contradistinction
to all isms." People had persistently identified
Mr. Quimby with spiritism and other current
theories. Mrs. Eddy, then Mrs. Patterson, saw
as clearly as any one that he was misunderstood.
She was always eager to defend him. Her de-
fense shows that she rightly traced his references
to scriptural teaching to the Bible, and that she
accepted his interpretation of the New Testa-
ment as containing a "spiritual science," the name
for which she afterwards adopted for her version
of his teaching, namely. Christian Science.

One further reference to the letter by Mrs.
Patterson in which she enclosed her poem is
needed to make our history complete. She nat-
urally supposed that Mr. Dresser would take up

1 Reprinted in The True History of Mental Science, p. 34.

110 The New Thought Movement

Quimby's practice among the sick, as he had for
years been Quimby's most ardent follower.
Consequently she writes, "I am constantly wish-
ing that you would step forward into the place he
has vacated. I believe you would do a vast
amount of good, and are more capable of occupy-
ing his place than any other I know of." Then
Mrs. Patterson gives the immediate reason for
wishing that this might come about : "Two weeks
ago I fell on the sidewalk, and struck my back on
the ice, and was taken up for dead, came to con-
sciousness amid a storm of vapors from cologne,
. . . camphor, etc., but to find myself the help-
less cripple I was before I saw Dr. Quimby.

"The physician attending said I had taken the
last step I ever should, but in two days I got
out of my bed alone and will walk ; but yet I con-
fess I am frightened, and out of that nervous
heat my friends are forming, spite of me, the
terrible spinal affection from which I suffered so
long and hopelessly. Now can't you help me?
I believe you can. I write this with this feeling :
I think that I could help another in my condi-
tion if they had not placed their intelligence in
matter. This I have not done, and yet I am
slowly failing. Won't you write to me if you
will undertake for me if I can get to you? . . .
Respectfully, Mary M. Patterson." ^

1 True History of Mental Science, p. 34.

The Beginnings of Christian Science 111

The answer was that Mr. Dresser did not at
that time feel sufficient confidence to succeed Mr.
Quimby. Mr. Evans had not then issued his
first book and was not yet known as a healer.
Apparently there was no one to take up the
practice of spiritual healing. Fortunately, per-
haps, for her, Mrs. Patterson had to depend on
her own resources, for in so doing she probably
grew in faith in the method of healing she had
learned from Quimby. There is no evidence to
show that Mrs. Patterson, who presently became
Mrs. Eddy, made any special claims as discoverer
before she published Science and Health, 1875.
At the time Miss Milmine was preparing her very
careful and wholly accurate series of articles on
Mrs. Eddy for McClure's Magazine, I read
manuscript lessons, then in Miss Milmine's pos-
session, in which Mrs. Eddy, still teaching the
ideas and methods which she acquired from
Quimby, used a very interesting intermediate
phraseology, often verbally like Quimby's early
articles, but also resembling the language of
Science and Health. In view of the fact that
the first edition of Science and Health has been
so far as possible suppressed, there is good rea-
son to believe that its author still gave Mr.
Quimby credit for his discoveries, and that she
had no thought of making claims for herself as
a revelator, as if Quimby had taught her nothing.

112 The New Thought Movement

What her reasons were for making the change,
we need not ask. We are concerned, not with
bestowing credit upon Quimby, for he never de-
sired it, and whatever credit is his due no one can
take from him; but with the fact that Mrs.
Eddy's claim for herself as a revelator brought
a division into the mental-healing camp. This
is a historical fact which we cannot neglect, since
this division has been an element in the history
since 1882.

We are interested as students of the history
of this movement merely in the fact that there
was a controversy in the Boston papers in 1883
in which Mrs. Eddy indicated her change in at-
titude toward Quimby and intensified the split in
the therapeutic world. In a letter addressed to
the Boston Post, dated "No. 569 Colimibus Ave-
nue, March 7, 1883," Mrs. Eddy says:

"In 1862 my name was Patterson, my hus-
band. Dr. Patterson, a distinguished dentist.
After our marriage I was confined to my bed
with a severe illness, and seldom left bed or
room for seven years, when I was taken to Dr.
Quimby and partially restored. I returned
home happy, but only returned to a new agony
to find my husband had eloped. ... I have a
bill of divorce from him, obtained in the county
of Essex. . . . We had laid the foundations of
mental healing before we ever saw Dr. Quimby ;

The Beginnings of Christian Science 113

were an homoeopathist without a diploma. We
made our first experiments in mental healing
about 1853, when we were convinced that mind
had a science which, if understood, would heal
all diseases. ... Dr. Quimby was somewhat of
a remarkable healer, and at the time we knew
him was known as a mesmerist.^ . . . We knew
him about twenty years ago, and aimed to help
him. We saw he was looking in our direction,
and asked him to write his thoughts out. He did
so, and then we would take that copy to correct,
and sometimes so transform it that he would say
it was our composition, which it virtually was;
but we always gave him back the copy.^ . . .
But lo! after we have founded mental healing,
and nearly twenty years have elapsed, during
which we have taught some six hundred students,
and published five or six thousand volumes on
this subject . . . the aforesaid gentleman an-
nounces to the public. Dr. Quimby, the founder
of mental healing." ^

It hardly seems credible that one who had held
Quimby in such high esteem and had regarded

1 Compare this misstatement with Mrs. Eddy's appreciation of
Quimby's work quoted above. Mr. Quimby had given up mes-
merism many years before he moved to Portland in 1859.

2 It was the Misses Ware and Mr. Quimby's son who copied
his articles for him. No one else aided Quimby in this way.
Mrs. Patterson saw none of the articles save the first volume,
written in 1859, and loaned to Mrs. Patterson by Mr. J. A. Dresser.

« True History of Mental Science, p. 39.

114 The New Thought Movement

as performing works of healing in accordance
with the Christian principle, should now make
such a statement as the above and the following
from the Christian Science Journal, June, 1887 :
"I never heard him intimate that he healed dis-
eases mentally ; and many others will testify that,
up to his last sickness, he treated us magnetically
— ^manipulating our heads, and making passes in
the air while he stood in front of us. During his
treatments I felt like one having hold of an elec-
tric battery and standing on an insulating stool.
His healing was never considered or called any-
thing but Mesmerism. I tried to think better of
it, and to procure him public favor, and it
wounded me to have him despised. I believe he
was doing good; and, even now, knowing as I
do the harm in this practice, I would never re-
vert to it but for this public challenge. I was
ignorant of the basis of animal magnetism twenty
years ago, but now know it would disgrace and
invalidate any mode of medicine."

It will be noticed that in the article quoted
above from the Portland Evening Courier, 1862,
Mrs. Eddy, then Mrs. Patterson, distinctly says
that she has employed animal magnetism and
knows the results of the magnetic treatment. In
contrast with such treatment, she finds Mr.
Quimby employing a principle which explains
the error on the part of those who attribute in-

The Beginnings of Christian Science 115

telligence to matter and believe in disease as "in-
dependent of the mind," and declares that his
doctrine is "very spiritual." The occasional use
of the hands in rubbing a patient's head after the
silent treatment was completed and by way of
increasing the patient's faith, is explained by Mr.
Dresser in The True History of Mental Science.^
It would be a long story to trace out and tell
all the conflicting statements made by Mrs.
Eddy's writers. Two of the latter have ad-
mitted to me that they aided in writing such
statements purely as matter of business, to sub-
stantiate the claims in behalf of the supposed
"revelation" in 1866. It was the hypothesis of
a "revelation" that caused all the difficulty. The
discrepancies in the dates are possibly due in part
to the fact that diflferent writers were employed
to make them. The failure of the various
writers to compare notes would also explain the
many misstatements circulated since 1883 con-
cerning Quimby's manuscripts, in regard to Dr.
Ahren's trial, and the suit brought against The
Arena Company for alleged infringement of
rights in printing Mrs. Eddy's portrait.^ Many
other matters have been so interpreted as seem-
ingly to discredit those who know the facts.

1 New ed., p. 25.

2 No action was taken in regard to the subject-matter of the
articles in The Arena, These articles have never been disputed.

116 The New Thought Movement

Here we refer to such matters merely to show
that to ascertain the historical facts it would be
necessary in every instance to pass beyond these
statements published for reasons by those who
had the reputation of an organization to sustain.

For example, in the letter addressed to the
Boston Post, quoted from above, Mrs. Eddy
gives the date of her first experiments in mind-
healing as 1853. In her Restrospection and In-
trospection, page 28, she says, "It was in Massa-
chusetts, in the year 1866, that I discovered the
Science of Divine Metaphysical Healing, which
I afterward named Christian Science." Again,
on page 51, she says, "In 1867 I introduced the
first purely metaphysical system of healing since
apostolic days." This she named "the great dis-
covery" on a "basis so hopelessly original" that
she charges others with plagiarisms from "the
precious book," Science and Health, "the only
known work containing a correct and complete
statement of the Science of Metaphysical Heal-
ing, its principles and practice."

In The Arena, May, 1899, a former student
of Christian Science has examined some of the
contradictory statements and shown that they
are mutually destructive. Since we are now
tracing the history of the therapeutic movement
in general, we simply call attention to the fact
that three of Mr. Evans's books were before the

The Beginnings of Christian Science 117

world when Science and Health was published,
and that those works contain "a correct and com-
plete statement of the science of metaphysical
healing, its principles and practice," on the basis
of the method acquired from Mr. Quimby and of
principles adapted from the writings of Sweden-
borg and the Bible. When Mrs. Eddy writes
that "Dr. Quimby believed in the reality of dis-
ease, and its power over life; and he depended
on man's belief in order to heal him, as all mes-
merists do," ^ we know of course that the state-
ment is for a purpose. It is always difficult to
sustain the hypothesis of a "revelation." Once
entered into, the hypothesis is persistently as-
serted and reasserted in varying terms. The un-
dertaking would be relatively harmless were it
not that thousands of people are deceived, inno-
cent people who are unaware that they are per-
petuating untruth.

All we need say here is that probably Mrs.
Eddy had no inkling of mental treatment in any
form before she visited Mr. Quimby in 1862, al-
though she had some acquaintance with spiritism
and magnetic treatment, and knew enough about
mesmerism to know that Quimby's treatment was
not mesmeric and that he was not called a mes-
merist save by those critics who did not under-
stand his method. The testimony given in her

1 ChrUtia/n Science Journal, June, 1887.

118 The New Thought Movement

letters is trustworthy because it antedated the
time when the special claims were made in behalf
of her own "discovery." The actual discovery
was of course the finding of Mr. Quimby, the ac-
ceptance of his method of treatment, his theory
of disease and its cure, his idea of man the spir-
itual being, and the adoption of his "science of
health and happiness" with its implied interpre-
tation of the New Testament. The next step
was taken with the endeavor to give people the
benefit of Quimby's teaching, and this surely was
made in good faith. Then came the fateful fall
on the sidewalk in February, 1866, and the real-
ization that she must depend upon her own un-
derstanding of the new principle if she was to
regain her health. This eflfort to apply Quimby's
method was the "demonstration" which gave her
the conclusive proof. We have a brief reference
to this experience in Mrs. Eddy's own words:

"At Swampscott, Mass., in 1866, we recovered
in a moment of time from a severe accident, con-
sidered fatal by the regular physicians, and re-
gained the internal action that had stopped and
the use of our limbs that were palsied. To us
this demonstration was the opening of the new
era of Christian Science. We then gained a
proof that the principle, or life of man, is a di-
vine intelligence and power which, understood.

The Beginnings of Christian Science 119

can heal all diseases, and reveals the basis of
man's immortality." ^

So far the statement is correct, since the ability
to apply Quimby's principle was the beginning
of a "new era" for Mrs. Eddy. What she here
says about this principle is given in the same
terms which Quimby employed. But then fol-
low statements calculated to mislead, as if
Quimby's method of healing were a "mystery"
to Mr. Dresser to whom she had applied for help
after she had proved her power "to work out the
problem of mental healing." The "wonderful
discovery" she speaks of was of course her ovm
clearer insight into the principle and the ability
to apply it. Mrs. Eddy did not arrive at any
new principle. There is no evidence in her pub-
lished writings that she advanced beyond Quimby
in any way. What she did was to develop the
therapeutic principles in her own language and
then give these the authority of special claims
as if the idea of spiritual healing and of "Chris-
tian" science had not been known previous to
1866. To try to make these claims good it was
necessary to ignore Mr. Evans, whose books be-
gan to appear in 1869; to discredit Quimby as
an "ignorant mesmerist"; and in many other
ways to substitute misstatements for facts.

1 Letter to the BoHon Post above quoted.

120 The New Thought Movement

Turning now to the ideas out of which Mrs.
Eddy's version of the "theory" or "Truth" was
developed, we note that Mrs. Eddy employed the
same terminology for the most part in declaring
disease an "error" of mind, although she was
more inclined to employ negative statements or
denials. Mr. Quimby denied that there is any
intelligence in matter or that the body had any
power to produce disease apart from the mind.
But his explanations were concrete and affirma-
tive, based on many years of practice with the
sick, and he saw no reason for denying natural
facts. Mrs. Eddy's statements were more ab-
stract since she did not enjoy the same advantage
of practical experience. She introduced the
less intelligible term "mortal mind" in place of
Quimby's teaching that the lower mind consists
of spiritual substance or "opinions" which grow
like seeds in a fertile soil. But in general the
contrast between truth and error remains as in
Quimby's theory.

Mrs. Eddy acquired from Quimby the idea of
the spiritual interpretation of Scripture, and
made this an important part of her version of
Christian Science. Science and Health was put
forward after a time as the actual "key" to scrip-
tural interpretation, with an authority claimed
for it which was a wide departure from Quimby's
modest claims. Quimby had taught that there

The Beginnings of Christian Science 121

is an implied science in the Scriptures, as we have
noted above. He had even employed the term
"Christian Science." ^ But Mrs. Eddy under-
stood this "science" in part only, or she would not
have claimed it as her own "revelation." Mrs.
Eddy neglected the larger clues to spiritual in-
terpretation which she might have found by turn-
ing from Mr. Evans's The Mental Cure to Swed-
enborg's works, and which she might have based
on the Bible itself as the Word, instead of basing
such an interpretation on a personal view. If,
as reported, Mrs. Eddy allowed her name to be
coupled with that of Christ, this of course marks
a still wider departure from the spirit exempli-
fied by Mr. Quimby.

Mrs. Eddy also tended to introduce specula-
tive terms to some extent, based on a version of
Berkeley, with whom she believed herself in
agreement. But as in the case of Mr. Evans's
later version of the spiritual healing theory, an
analysis of the differences would take us too far
afield. I have elsewhere examined this view of
Berkeley.^ We note this view in order to show
why on the whole readers of Science and Health
have tended to make light of the natural world.
There may have been an advantage in favor of

iThis term was first used, in an entirely different connection,
by Abram Cowles, 1840; and by Rev. Wm. Adams, Elements of
Christian Science, Philadelpliia, 1850.

2 Man and the I>if>ine Order, p. 301.

122 The New Thought Movement

this sort of idealism for those who were work-
ing away from a purely naturalistic point of
view. As an extreme reaction against a mate-
rialistic age. Christian Science may have had a
lesson for us. But our thought need not rest in
extremes. It is not necessary to deny any of the
realities, laws or conditions of the natural world
in order to test the truths of mental healing.
There is no advantage in denying anything that
God has made.

Mrs. Eddy's hypothesis of "malicious animal
magnetism" was a departure from Quimby's
teaching; for Quimby did not charge his critics
with any effort to work against him, he was not
concerned with the "malicious." This hypoth-
esis seems rather strange, in view of the fact that
Mrs. Eddy had declared that "All is good; there
is no evil." It came into vogue in Christian
Science circles in connection with some of the
early students, some of whom were charged with
appropriating Mrs. Eddy's ideas. Quimby had
taught that minds influence one another far more
than we realize, and that minds give off an "at-
mosphere"; but he had nothing to say about
"magnetism" since he traced all the adverse in-
fluences to which the sick are subject to fear,
error, and opinions or beliefs. When Mrs.
Eddy explains evil as an illusion due to the er-
rors of "mortal mind," to the ignorance of our

The Beginnings of Cheistian Science 128

true nature, Quimby would have pointed out that
in all consistency one should cleave to this our
real nature, to the truth of our real being, not
concerning ourselves with so-called "animal mag-
netism." Quimby would have said that "Good
or God never causes evil, or creates aught that
can cause evil" ; for he held that man's misery is
of man's own invention, and should not be attri-
buted to God.

When Mrs. Eddy declares that Christ was
"the divine manifestation of God, which comes
in the flesh, to destroy incarnate error," and that
Jesus was "the human man and Christ is divine,"
she is drawing the same distinction which runs
through Quimby's teaching. Quimby also said
that "man is God's idea," "the spiritual image
and likeness of God," and he too taught that man
in this sense of the word does not sin, is not sick,
since sin or sickness is explicable by reference to
the opinions or beliefs which man entertains in
his ignorance. Mrs. Eddy gives further expres-
sion to this principle when she says, "The realm
of the real is spiritual." "The spiritual universe,
including man, is a compound yet individual idea,
reflecting the divine Substance of Spirit,"
"Spirit is God, and man is the image and like-
ness ; hence man is spiritual and not material."

When, however, Mrs. Eddy declares that
"there is no matter, it is non-existent," "matter

MM

124 The New Thought Movement

is another name for mortal mind," "the body is in
fact mortal mind, though it is called matter,"
she is only partly stating Quimby's view.
Quimby called the lower mind "spiritual matter,"
and he held that man entertains all sorts of opin-
ions concerning the body as if matter contained
intelligence ; but he did not deny the existence of
the body, which is part of nature and which we
might all truly imderstand if we would take our
start with the "scientific man," the "spiritual
man," or real self. Mrs. Eddy's statement,
"Mortal mind is not an entity. It is only a
false sense of matter," comes nearer Quimby's
terminology. It was this "false sense of mat-
ter" which Quimby sought to dispel by establish-
ing the truth concerning man's being. Mrs.
Eddy speaks of the flesh as "An error of physi-
cal belief, a supposition that life, substance and
intelligence are in matter ... a belief that mat-
ter has sensation." She is here drawing the
same distinction, save that Quimby would have
called attention to the fact that there is a true
idea of the flesh: man did not create the body,
but has entertained a false idea of it by attrib-
uting to it the intelligence which belongs only
to mind. The curative principle is stated by
Mrs. Eddy when she says that "the healing power
of Truth is demonstrated to be an immanent,
eternal quality, or principle," the term "Princi-

The Beginnings of Christian Science 125

pie" having been substituted for Quimby's term
"Wisdom.'* What Mrs. Eddy aimed to express
no doubt was the supremacy of spirit over ma-
terial circumstance, hence over all errors, opin-
ions and beliefs. To see this truth and express
it in one's own fashion is to adopt the affirmative
attitude, and that was Quimby's aim in establish-
ing "the science of life and happiness," or "Chris-
tian Science."

VI

THE MENTAL SCIENCE PEBIOD

Aftee Mr. Quimby's death, in 1866, there was
little activity in the world of the new therapeut-
ism for a number of years. Mr. Evans was prac-
tising the new method in a quiet way in Salis-
bury, Massachusetts, and was writing his earlier
books. The Misses Ware and other patients
who had manifested special interest in Quimby's
teaching were still doing what they could to
make that teaching known. Mr. Dresser pos-
sessed copies of Quimby's manuscript volumes
and sometimes read from these or loaned them
to people who wished to know how Quimby
healed. Mrs. Eddy had recovered from her fall
and the illness attendant upon it, and was cir-
culating Mr. Quimby's ideas to some extent.
But there was no organized effort to inculcate
the new theory, and no one ventured to take up
the therapeutic practice on a large scale.

The first event of significance during those
years was the publication of Mr. Evans's book.
The Mental Cure, in 1869. Great interest was
shown in that work, and it was the beginning of

126

The Mental Science Period 127

a campaign of education which has continued
ever since. ' But time was required to win assent
to views which seemed so radical. That was be-
fore the days of the "new psychology." No one
had then thought of supporting the teachings it
contained by associating them with transcenden-
talism and the writings of Emerson. The dev-
otees of the New Church did not respond to Mr.
Evans's effort to apply Swedenborg's doctrines
to spiritual healing.^ What was needed, per-
haps, was a more radical and less reasonable
statement of the principles underlying the new
therapeutism. For the general public is more
apt to respond to radical views. Oftentimes the
less reasonable view is needed to give sufficient
contrast and provoke controversy.

This impetus was given after the publication
of Mr. Evans's third book. Soul and Body, by the
launching of Mrs. Eddy's radical propositions in
Science and Health, published in 1875. If we
are to see any purpose at all in the publication of
that book, we may venture to say that it had
value in arousing people out of their material-
ism. The results of the past forty years ap-
parently justify this statement, for to those of us
who have known former Christian scientists as
they came one by one out of their radical into
more reasonable views it has been plain that

1 The only exception was Dr. Holcombe, to be mentioned later.

128 The New Thought Movement

something like Science and Health was needed
to set matters in motion.

The first reaction was against the "revelator'*
and the claims made in behalf of a supposed "rev-
elation." The second was against the theory-
contained in Science and Health, which had
served for the time being to provoke thought.
Just as the earlier readers of Mrs. Eddy's book
took fundamental exception to it, so increasing
numbers have departed from her organization to
set up for themselves, meanwhile keeping such
ideas as had proved of value. In due time the
last Christian scientist will probably take leave
in the same way. In retrospect people will then
wonder why such a reaction did not occur long
before.

We chronicle the fact, then, significant for our
history, that after Mrs. Eddy's work appeared
there was a tendency to read both Evans and
Eddy, and that "mental science" was a comming-
ling of ideas gathered from these two sources and
from the teachings of those who, like Mr. Julius
Dresser, had held to Quimby's teaching in its or-
iginal form. The term "mental science," intro-
duced by Mr. Evans, with reference to the psy-
chological aspect of the new therapeutism, began
to be used in 1882-3 for the whole teaching. It
was used in preference to the term Christian
Science because the latter term had become iden-

The Mental Science Period 129

tified with the hypothesis of a "revelation." The
term "mental" was spiritualized by those who ad-
hered to Quimby's teaching. Thus Mr. Dresser
employed it when responding to the request to
narrate "the true history" of the therapeutic
movement. The term "mental" was almost a
synonym for "Christian," as used by those who
believed that the new healing was wrought by
spiritual means. For others it was a convenient
expression for their faith that health is mental
rather than physical, that causality is in the realm
of thought, and that true science is the opposite
of medical materialism.

As we have seen above, Mr. Evans restated
his views in terms of idealism in his later book.
The Divine Law of Cure, Boston, 1881. We
have also noted that Mrs. Eddy taught an ideal-
ism akin to Berkeley's view, as Berkeley is mis-
understood. Readers untrained in philosophy
easily found the two interpretations identical.
Hence a practical idealism emphasizing thought
as fundamental, as the "greatest power in the
world," readily came into vogue. It did not of
course matter that philosophically speaking it
would be difficult to defend the proposition that
"to think and exist are one and the same."
What people wanted was their health. They
were not interested in metaphysics. For them
there was a very workable conception in the

180 The New Thought Movement

teaching that "disease is an error of mind."
They had been regarding it as merely physical.
They had taken it to be an entity that can at-
tack man from without, whatever his inner state.
For the time being what they needed was a point
of view as far removed from materialism as pos-
sible.

There is always an advantage in radical claims.
If you adopt a point of view which in your way of
thinking at the time contains all that is true, con-
demning all other views as false, you then give
yourself as fully to that one view as did the early
Mohanmiedans to their prophet when -they held
that all books save the Koran should be burned.
The aflSrmative attitude goes with such claims,
and people in search of health, after medical
science has pronounced their cases hopeless, must
be affirmative. "What we believe, that we
create," so Quimby had taught. It was essen-
tial to believe that all causality was in the realm
of mind. Meanwhile, the natural universe could
take care of itself. It was not destroyed by the
proposition that "there is no matter."

Some of the beliefs passing current in the men-
tal-science period would indeed seem absurd to
those of us who try to think matters out to the
end, as well as to believers in natural facts and
the ability of men of science to state facts apart
from theoretical prejudice. But we must re-

The Mental Science Period 131

member the bondages out of which the people
had come who exclaimed in their enthusiasm that
they could "eat mince-pie at midnight," or any-
thing else they liked at any time, and suflFer no
inconvenience; since "there is no quality in food
save what the mind gives it, in the unconscious
beliefs of the race." What people were trying
to do was to eliminate the "false beliefs," "the
errors of mmd," which had held them in subjec-
tion. They did this with enthusiasm and the re-
sults were on the whole good. It was natural,
having concluded that medicines and drugs have
no qualities save those attributable to the sugges-
tions which people have associated with them, that
aU material things and conditions should be re-
garded as aflFecting man according to his belief.
The point was that, whether agreeing with Mrs.
Eddy in full or not, one should at least go as
far as Quimby and Evans went, showing that
matter contains "no intelligence or power in it-
seK." To take this stand was to be prepared to
overcome all adversaries.

The first groups of people assembled to dis-
cuss these matters in Boston in 1882 and 1883
were indebted for their impetus to the sources
indicated above. A number of healers and
teachers left Mrs. Eddy and branched out inde-
pendently at the same time Mr. Evans's teachings
were gaining headway in Boston, and Mr.

132 The New Thought Movement

Dresser contributed his share by giving the de-
sired information concerning Quimby and his
views. The papers began to take some notice of
the new teachings, and the term "mind-cure" was
brought into vogue. The new movement was of
course looked upon as "the Boston craze" by
those who saw no meaning in it, and it was an
easy matter for the general public to misunder-
stand.

The first impression gained by the public was
practically this: When we are ill, we merely
think or imagine we are sick. Disease is simply
a myth. It can be banished with a thought.
Consequently, if you would address the devotee
of the mind-cure with due respect say to him
when he seems to have a cold, "Oh, you have the
belief of a coldl" There is really no suflFering
or misery in the world, "but thinking makes it
so." But it would be well for the mind-curers
to "make hay while the sun shines," since they
cannot expect people to hold such views very
long.

What the new movement amoimted to for the
average devotee was first of all a method of heal-
ing that had somehow in a remarkable way given
them back their health. As the healers increased
in number, the interest grew, and many patients
remained to study with their healers after they
had regained their health. Thus the habit of

The Mental Science Peeiod 133

teaching the principles of the new therapeutism
came into vogue, and after taking a course of ten
or twelve class-lectures some of the students
started out to heal and then to teach in their
own way. As the mental scientists had no au-
thoritative text-book, no leader accepted as a rev-
elator, and no organization maintaining a hold
upon its followers, the tendency was for each
healer to branch out freely, say nothing about
the origin of the ideas in question; but to set
them forth as if they had just been acquired.

Many of the devotees left the churches to
which they belonged as disciples of the old the-
ology, passed through a reaction against that
theology, and found their religion in healing the
sick. Thus in time the meeting devoted to an
exposition of the new therapeutism took the place
of the service in the churches. The silent treat-
ment was akin to prayer or worship, on its re-
ligious side, and so "the silence" as it has since
been called became a part of the meeting. Such
meetings used to be held Simday evenings, so as
to avoid a conflict of hours in the case of fol-
lowers who still wished to attend the morning
service in the established churches. The
Wednesday evening experience meeting early
came into vogue, everybody was invited to take
part, and so the meetings became democratic.
One of the early leaders in these meetings in

184 The New Thought Movement

Boston, J. W. Winkley, had been a Unitarian
minister/ Others had contemplated entering
the ministry or were teachers. Hence there
were devotees capable of directing the meetings
and introducing the element of worship, or lead-
ing in regular instruction. The name given to
the first of these independent societies in Boston,
"Church of the Divine Unity," suggests the point
of emphasis in such worship. The aim was to
throw oflF the old theology and substitute the idea
of the immanence of God in His wisdom, as the
onmipresent help "in times of trouble."

To judge by their teachings simply, those that
the general public misunderstood and treated
with ridicule, would be wholly to miss the spirit
of these early workers in the new field. There
were able and earnest men and women among
them who put into their work and their teach-
ings the persuasive power of the evangelist giv-
ing to the masses the great truths which the
world needed. They one and all owed their re-
covery to the new method. They one and all
found a religion, a rediscovery of Christianity
in their service among the sick. For them the
healing of disease was part of the instruction of
the whole individual, the beginning of a new
life. Moreover, in their teaching and in their
jpublic meetings they had the impetus which

1 See The Spirit of the New Thought, p. 47.

The Mental Science Peeiod 135

comes to those who realize that the truths they
have to give are relatively new and eagerly
sought for. Consequently, with little previous
preparation, oftentimes without notes or any sub-
ject chosen in advance, these speakers gave forth
what was to them in very truth "the science of
life and happiness," as Quimby had called it.

Among these leaders were some who, like Mr.
E. M. Chesley, later active in the Metaphysical
Club of Boston, took their clue from Mr. Evans's
books and began to trace out the ideas in the phi-
losophies of the past which resembled mental
science.^ Thus after a time the term "meta-
physics" came into vogue to indicate that the
fundamental principles of the new movement
were akin to the great idealisms of the past. In
his Facts and Fictions of Mental Healing ^ Bos-
ton, 1887, Mr. Charles M. Barrows, formerly a
teacher and well acquainted with the history of
thought, looked back to ancient India to find
forerunners of the new ideas. Mr. Barrows also
pointed out that the same idealistic wisdom was
contained in the writings of Emerson, howbeit
none of the therapeutic leaders had until then
noted the resemblance. This was the beginning
of interest in Emerson on the part of those who

1 See Mr. Chesley's papers on "The New Metaphysical Move-
ment," and "The Law of the Good," in The Spirit of the New
Thought

136 The New Thought Movement

later became known as New Thought leaders.

At this time, also, people began to notice re-
semblances between mental science and theos-
ophy. Miss M. J. Barnett, author of Practical
Metaphysics^ Boston, 1889, and other volumes,
was the first writer to take the lead in what be-
came a well-known branch of the mental-healing
movement, the tendency to interpret mental heal-
ing on a theosophical basis. Mr. Colville, au-
thor of The Spiritual Science of Health and
Healing J 1889, and several other volumes, was
among the first to set forth the therapeutic teach-
ings in a manner typical of believers in medium-
ship or spiritism. It is a question whether the
mental-healing movement has gained by the tend-
ency to connect it with so many teachings more or
less akin. But however that may be, we simply
note the fact that, beginning in 1887, writers on
the subject of mental healing tended to look
afield. Hence the books from that time on be-
came very diverse. Only those readers under-
took to compass them all or compare their teach-
ings who were concerned to follow the movement
in all its branches.

The first mental-science magazine established
in Boston, the Mental Healing Monthly, was
edited by the same group of leaders who organ-
ized the Church of the Divine Unity. The
same leaders also organized the first mental-

The Mental Science Period 137

science convention. In this period also belong
the first publications issued in Chicago, the Men-
tal Science Magazine^ edited by Mr. A. J.
Swartz, formerly a devotee of Christian Science,
and the Christian Metaphysician edited by Mr.
George B. Charles 1887-1897. Wayside Lights,
established by Edward Sheldon, Miss L. C. Gra-
ham and other pioneers in mental science in Hart-
ford, Conn., January, 1890; Thought, the fore-
runner of Unity, edited by Charles Fillmore,
Kansas City; and Harmony, edited by Mrs. M.
E. Cramer, San Francisco, 1889-1906, belong in
the same group. All these publications stood for
an independent interpretation of mental healing,
but with a common tendency to look back to the
New Testament and bring out its implied "spir-
itual science," according to the teachings of
Quimby, Evans and Mrs. Eddy.

One of the earliest of the mental science writ-
ers. Miss S. S. Grimke, in a book bearing the
curious title Personified Unthinkables, 1884, in-
terpreted the practical idealism with special ref-
erence to mental pictures and their influence.
This emphasis on mental pictures was character-
istic of Mr. Quimby. In fact, Quimby some-
times described the mental part of his treatment
with reference to the pictures he discerned in-
tuitively in the patient's mind, and the ideal pic-
tures in connection with which "the truth of a

188 The New Thought Movement

patient's being" was established in place of the
"error or disease." ^

Mrs. Elizabeth G. Stuart, of Hyde Park,
Mass., a sometime student under Mrs. Eddy's
instruction, also brought forward this element
of the silent treatipent.^ Among Mrs. Stuart's
students was Mr. Leander Edmund Whipple,
whose work dates from the period of his studies
with Mrs. Stuart in Hyde Park. Mr. Whipple
employed the term mental science when he be-
gan his work as a mental healer in Hartford,
Conn., December, 1885. The interest aroused
by his highly successful work in Hartford led to
the pioneer activities in mental healing there.
Later, Mr. Whipple moved to New York, where
he was also one of the pioneers, established The
Metaphysical Magazine, 1895, a large-sized pe-
riodical, the first of its class devoted to mental
healing; organized the American School of
Metaphysics, and issued several volumes on the
general subject, notably The Philosophy of Men-
tal Healing, a standard work of its type, and The
Manual of Mental Science. Mr. Whipple, who
did not affiliate with the other therapeutists and
teachers in New York, has been referred to as
"the head of the metaphysical movement in this

1 See The Philosophy of P. P. Quimhy, p. 51.

2 See The Healing Power of Mind, by E. G. Stuart, Boston,
1885.

The Mental Science Peeiod 189

country." But he was one of the pioneer lead-
ers, only, and for thirty years, until his death,
May 25,. 1916, a distinctive teacher and healer.
The term "metaphysical movement" was also
used in Boston by the organizers of the Meta-
physical Club.

Mrs. Stuart held the first class in Hartford,
Conn., in May, 1885. Another class was formed
in April, 1888. Among her students were Miss
L. C. Graham, long a successful healer and
teacher, and Miss Esther Henry, also a leading
teacher and healer, connected in recent years with
the New Thought Federation. Mrs. Stuart's
followers in Massachusetts and New York, "be-
lieving that earnest cooperation of workers fa-
cilitated progress in any great work, had organ-
ized in each state imder the name, "Light, Love,
Truth." The Hartford group adopted the same
name, the ideal being "that the work should not
be aggressive, but that each one should go forth
quietly, holding the torch of Truth firmly and
fearlessly. . . . The symbol adopted was the
equilateral triangle, as representing the funda-
mental trinity of Life, interpreted in this way:
Life cannot be manifested apart from Love and
Truth. Love cannot be separated from Life
and Truth. Without Truth there can be neither
Life nor Love." Miss Esther Henry was
elected president; Mrs. Mary M. C. Keney, vice-

140 The New Thought Movement

president; and Miss Mary N. Davis, secretary
and treasurer. In 1889 it was voted to admit
mental scientists other than the immediate fol-
lowers of Mrs. Stuart, and a special invitation
was sent to Miss Minnie S. Davis and her stu-
dents to join the society. Miss Davis was the
pioneer in establishing mental science in Spring-
field, Mass.

Another leader whose work began in Hartford
during the mental-science period was Mr. C. B.
Patterson, who adopted mental science in 1887,
established a society known as The Alliance, and
later in New York took this name for his pub-
lishing business. But Mr. Patterson's work be-
longs rather with the New-Thought period, as
his books and magazine, Mindj were not pub-
lished until the later years. In New York and
Chicago, various phases of the mental-healing
movement began to appear at this time, under
the leadership of teachers who, like Mrs. Emma
Curtis Hopkins and Mrs. Ursula N. Gestefeld^
reacted against Christian Science and branched
out for themselves, agreeing in part with the
mental scientists, and in part introducing ideas
of their own. Mrs. Gestefeld adopted the term
Science of Being, instead of metaphysics.^ Mrs.
Gestefeld was for many years one of the leading

1 See Stcttement of Christian Science, New York, 1888; The
Science of the Christ, Chicago, 1889.
I.

The Mental Science Peeiod 141

representatives of this type of mental-healing
theory. Like the Divine Scientists and the fol-
lowers of Mrs. Hopkins, Mrs. Gestefeld's stu-
dents assimilated in their own way "the spiritual
science" of the Scriptures.

Devotees of the mental-picture theory were
inclined to place more stress on the psychological
elements of mental healing. Mr. Whipple's
terminology, for* example, centered about the
idea of a "specific-image treatment." Accord-
ing to this terminology, the blotting out of men-
tal pictures pertaining to the disease and the sub-
stitution of ideal pictures in their stead is the
essence of the whole mental-healing process.
All devotees of the New Thought would recog-
nize a truth in this way of stating the matter, but
would be inclined to dwell on other elements of
the process, also, such as the elimination of fear
and other disturbing mental states, which might
be more -central or influential than the mere pic-
tures associated with these states. The term
"metaphysical healing" as employed by Mr.
Whipple does not signify anything different so
far as the underlying principles are concerned.
Many disciples of mental science used this term
as synonymous with "mental science" and ap-
plied idealism. Mrs. Eddy also employed the
term "metaphysical" as the name of her school
in Boston. The term "metaphysics" as thus em-

142 The New Thought Movement

ployed need not be understood in the philosophi-
cal sense as a complete system of first principles.
It means a practical idealism emphasizing mental
or spiritual causality in contrast with the prev-
alent materialism, or the assimiption that matter
possesses independent life and intelligence.
Thus the term "Christian metaphysics" is prac-
tically the same as the terms used by Quimby to
indicate that there is a spiritual science in the
New Testament.

I have elsewhere given a brief account of the
work and teaching of Mr. Julius A. Dresser,
(1838-1893) whose public activities as healer
and teacher began in Boston, October, 1882.^
The articles contained in The Mental Healing
Monthly of 1887-88, and the address delivered in
the Church of the Divine Unity, 1887, may be re-
garded as typical of the line of thought devel-
oped directly out of Quimby's teaching.^ The
first emphasis was on what Mr. Dresser called
"The Omnipresent Wisdom," in accordance
with Quimby's view that the therapeutic eflS-
ciency was attributable to the divine immanence.
Mental science was for him the psychological
theory by which the mental part of the process
of cure was made explicit. Mr. Dresser used to
introduce idealistic interpretations of the universe

1 Health and the Iwner lAfe, p. ISl.

2 See The Spirit of the New Thought, p. 59.

The Mental Science Peeiod 148

into his class-lectures in order to give his hearers
the inner point of view. But, following Quimby,
he did not deny the existence of the natural uni-
verse. For him the teaching he had acquired
from Quimby was a religion. It was this re-
ligious spirit which impressed his students more
than anything else in his teaching. Mr. Dresser
read excerpts from Quimby's manuscripts in his
classes, and heartily endorsed Mr. Evans's early
books as expressions of the spiritual teaching of
those manuscripts. The work established by
Mr. Dresser belongs under the head of mental
science, as thus understood, rather than under
the name New Thought.

In a paper entitled "The Science of Life,"
Mrs. J. A. Dresser has given first-hand impres-
sions of Quimby's teaching.^ Mrs. Dresser's ex-
perience as a healer led to the view which I have
expressed in my own language in a chapter en-
titled "The Meaning of Suffering," in The
Power of Silence, 1896, a book which with Health
and the Inner Life, may be taken as representa-
tive of the type of mental science developing out
of the teachings acquired from Mr. Quimby.
This interpretation of suffering marked a de-
parture to some extent from Quimby's view of
disease, since there would appear to be no com-

^The Spirit of the New Thought, p. 901; see, also,. Ti^e Phil-
osophy of P. P. QvMnhy,

144 The New Thought .Movement

pensation if disease be merely an "error of mind."
It means that behind our suffering there is the
immanent divine life seeking recognition and co-
operation. It means misunderstanding on our
part of the profounder relationships of our ex-
istence. Instead of simply trying to banish our
haunting mental pictures, or to substitute one
set of suggestions or associations for another, we
need to know our inner life to the foundation,
transferring the centre of our mental activity
from our discomfort, largely misunderstood, to
the divine life, seeking to lift us into freedom.
The result of this profounder interest, if we see
its true significance, would be an essentially spir-
itual view of life in contrast with one that cen-
tres about the power of thought.

But mental science as Evans used the term in
his first book was intended to be spiritual. In
the more comprehensive terminology of that
book, one can scarcely understand the human
mind without learning that interiorly the mind
is open to the divine life by influx. The true
mind is the mind of the spirit, not the "mind of
the flesh," not "mortal mind." The true mind
or spirit operates directly on another spirit in
the silent treatment. The true mental science
would then be very different from the psycholog-
ical theory passing current imder that name. It
would be essentially practical, and by applying it

The Mental Science Peeiod 145

one would indeed be able, as Quimby said, "to
teach goodness as a science." It was this in-
sight which characterized Evans's teaching and
gave the early impetus in the mental-science pe-
riod.

It was the impetus which this insight gave
which characterized the movement as it spread
from Boston to Hartford and New York, and
later found representatives in Chicago, Kansas
City, San Francisco, and other cities. Later, the
term "mental science" was employed by Mrs.
Helen Wilmans and others, notably in the far
West, in a rather diflPerent sense. According to
Mrs. Wilmans mental science was a kind of self-
emancipation involving a new assertion of the
self, for one "who dares affirm the I." This af-
firmation of the self has been characteristic of
some who have seized upon the machinery of
suggestion and used it to advantage in attaining
their freedom. But it should not be confounded
with the earlier mental science of such leaders
as Winkley, Chesley, Swartz, and Charles, nor
with the movement in Kansas City which became
known as Practical Christianity.

Mental science was indeed a broad tendency
of thought. It could be connected with theoso-
phy, spiritism, the teachings of Prentice Mul-
ford, mysticism, pantheism, theoretical idealism,
and the like. It could be traced back to India by

146 The New Thought Movement

those who took remote resemblances for historical
causes. It could be identified with certain of
Swedenborg's teachings about influx, corre-
spondence, and the relation of the soul to the
body. It could be regarded as modified Chris-
tian Science. It might be understood as
Quimby's "theory" or "truth." It naturally
found varied expressions because it appealed to
individuals of diflPerent types. Each one gained
the central ideas and then began to develop his
special views around them. Out of these can^e
with even greater variety what is now known as
the New Thought.

In so far as one may discriminate between the
two phases of the mental-healing movement, we
note that in the mental-science period the appli-
cation of mental science to health was the chief
interest. The so-called prosperity treatment had
not yet been heard of. Nothing had as yet been
said about "the cause and cure of old age." ^ It
had not become customary to hold meditation
meetings. Very little eflPort had been made to
organize the movement. There were as yet no
Unity Centres or Circles of Divine Ministry.
The public had merely a superficial view of the
"mind-cure." Few people as yet saw an eman-
cipating tendency in the movement akin to re-

1 This type of thought was made popular by Eleanor Kirk, au-
thor ot Pet'petual Youth, Brooklyn, 1895.

The Mental Science Peeiod 147

ligious liberalism. The popularizing of psychol-
ogy and the development of psychical research
were to come at a later time. Mental science had
little injfluence on medical practice. But mental
science did much more than merely keep in ac-
tion the impetus which had come from Quimby
and had been developed by his followers. It
stood for a theory of mental healing primarily.
But it was to lead to the New Thought, hence to
find varied expression in rivalry with Christian
Science. It fostered a kind of impersonalism,
such that its leaders took only a modicum of
credit to themselves. Thus it was a kind of pro-
testantism. It rejected all claims to a "revela-
tion," and substituted each man's thought for
"the authorized text-book." To understand it
on this side as a reaction, is to see why it nat-
urally led to the individualism of the New
Thought. Some of the New-Thought leaders
began their work in this period. But for pur-
poses of convenience we classify them with the
workers whose activity dates for the most part
after 1890.

It would be well, no doubt, to bear in mind
that as the mental-healing movement spread and
became more or less connected with other move-
ments of thought, it became more diffuse in va-
rious respects; hence lost some of its spiritual
power. It was natural to trace resemblances to

148 The New Thought Movement

theosophy, spiritism, the idealism of ancient
India, the idealism of Berkeley; but what was
gained out of curiosity was scarcely sufficient
to compensate for the loss in practical efficiency.
There is a great advantage in concentration. It
is not necessary to try in every possible way to
state the same ideas. We need a standard.
Mr. Evans was far better prepared as a writer
than most of those who restated the essentials
in their less enlightened fashion. His works re-
main the standard works of the mental-science
period. They come nearer a complete demon-
stration of mental or spiritual healing than most
books on the New Thought.

If, identifying the idealism of Mr. Evans's
The Divine Law of Cure with the same line of
thought in Mrs. Eddy's book, one should empha-
size the psychological process, one might under-
stand mental science to be no more than the term
implies. For all the practical ideas centering
about "thought" as the motive power are set
forth in that book. Disease is traced to an er-
roneous or morbid idea, associated with similar
ideas and tending in a wrong direction of mind.
Its cure is found in breaking up this association,
establishing a new direction of mind. The dis-
ease is then said to disappear, for "that which
is not in thought has to us no existence." ^ The

iP. 251.

The Mental Science Peeiod 149

doctrine of a "healing power of thought. . . is
based on the Hegehan principle that thought is
a creative force. ^ Mr. Evans employs the term
"suggestion" in the sense of an ideal picture, and
so leads the way to Mr. Henry Wood's theory
of "ideal suggestion through mental photog-
raphy." He says that "thoughts are things f'
and hence lays the foundation for Prentice Mul-
ford's teaching with this proposition as its lead-
ing one.^ Thus he is the forerunner in varied
ways of the New Thought.

If, however, one should read more deeply one
would find the spiritual clue and regard the men-
tal as secondary to the spiritual science, and see
the full value of the mental-science period ; hence
the larger sources of the New Thought. Mr.
Evans says, for example, "The spiritual physi-
cian, or one who heals the body by touching the
springs of life in the soul of the patient, should
speak and act from the Divine realm of his being,
as did Jesus the Christ. *The words that I
speak unto you I speak not of myself; but the
Father that dwelleth in me, He doeth the
works.' . • . The real Christ is to be sought
within, where alone he can be found . . • God's
creative thought always cooperates with ours in
every curative endeavor of our minds • • . In

1 p. 258.

2 Mr. Mulford's pamphlets formerly had a wide circulation.

150 The New Thought Movement

us the Word is made flesh and still dwells among
us, for it is our life, and that life is the light of
men . . . This Word dwells in every man as the
light of life, and invests us with a creative po-
tency, for all things are made by it. It is God's
Thought, and when our minds are in unison with
it in our struggle with disease, we are invested
with a fraction of God's omnipotence ... If,
in the effort to cure disease, I can find how God
is doing it, and conform my healing endeavor
to the Divine method, I come into line with
Him ... I can conform my effort to the Divine
creative Thought." ^

When, therefore, Mr. Evans uses the term
"thought" in its higher sense he means "the
Divine creative Thought," and this usage is the
one he has in mind in his idealistic interpreta-
tion of the universe. If one keeps this fact in
mind one may avoid all superficial interpreta-
tions of this book and of mental science. But
for the most part Mr. Evans employs the term
in its human sense, and here one must always
guard against ambiguity. He explains that by
saying "thoughts are things" he means that they
are "substantial realities," also "transmissible
entities;" that "thought and existence are iden-
tical." Thoughts have great power over other
minds because they can be transmitted directly.

1 Pp. 256, 262, 265, 267,

The Mental Science Period 151

"A word, an uttered sentence, into which is con-
centrated the soul-life and heart-life of him who
pronounces it, and which is animated by a Divine
thought, a living truth, has in it a healing virtue
above anything in a material drug." ^ This
vitalizing thought is what Evans called a "sug-
gestion" as applied to various parts of our na-
ture or the body, needing relief from pain.
"The thought of a thing is a spiritual touch or
contact with it — it is an ideal and real creation
of it." ^ It is this "ideal suggestion," as Mr.
Wood called it, which breaks up the old associa-
tion and establishes the new one. "The new as-
sociation becomes the means of the . . . forget-
fulness, of the disease; and in proportion as a
disease is out of thought, or we become oblivious
of it, it is cured." What we need to overcome
is our fixed, morbid way3 of thinking. Disease
in its spiritual root is "the fixedness of an idea."
It must be supplanted by the thought of a state
of health. "This, by a law of correspondence,
will tend to actualize itself." What we need,
in brief, is a "new mode of thinking."

1 Pp. 274, 278, 200.

2 P. 286.

VII

THE NEW THOUGHT

The term New Thought is more comprehen-
sive than any other that has been applied to the
mental-healing movement. The term itself has
often been criticized, and some attempts have
been made to give it up. It has come to stay,
however, and may well be accepted in the widely
representative sense in which it is at present em-
ployed. Like other terms, it had a natural his-
tory implying changes in human interests.
From the first the mental-healing movement was
a protest against old beliefs and methods, par-
ticularly the old-school medical practice and the
old theology. Quimby set the example in this
direction and his followers continued the protest.
Evans believed that Swedenborg was the "mes-
senger" of a new age, and he saw in Quimby 's
teaching an expression of a new spiritual
philosophy of life resembling Swedenborg's
doctrine on its practical side.^ Later, he em-
phasized the rebirth of idealism as an expression
of the new age, pointing out the need for a "new
mode of thought." Another devotee of Swed-

1 The New Age and Its Messenger, 1864; The Mental Cure, 1869.

152

The New Thought 153

enborg, Dr. Holcombe, was the first writer in
the mental-science period to employ the term
"New Thought," capitalized, to designate the
new teaching in the sense in which the term
is now used. In his pamphlet, Condensed
Thoughts about Christian Science, 1889, Dr.
Holcombe says, "New Thought always excites
combat in the mind with old thought, which re-
fuses to retire."

There is no line of demarkation, then, be-
tween the earlier terms and "New Thought."
Nor can one say that mental science abruptly
ceases and New Thought begins. After 1890,
devotees of mental healing acquired the habit of
speaking of the new teaching as "this thought"
in contrast with the old theology. Thus in time
the term came into vogue in place of mental
science, and writers like Dr. Holcombe began
to give up using the term "Christian Science"
when they wished to show that they did not mean
Eddyism. Then in 1894 the name "New
Thought" was chosen as the title of a little mag-
azine devoted to mental healing, published in
Melrose, Mass.^ The term became current in
Boston through the organization of the Meta-
physical Club, in 1895. At about the same time
it was used by Mr. C. B. Patterson in his mag-
azine, Mind, New York, and in the titles of two

1 See Spirit of the New Thought, p. 1.

i

154 The New Thought Movement

of his books, New Thought Essays and What is
the New Thought? ^ Henry Wood also used the
term in the title of his New Thought Simplified.
Later, a magazine bearing the name New
Thought was issued in Chicago. W. W. At-
kinson also gave popularity to the term in his
New Thought Magazine, since named Advanced
Thought.''

In England the term Higher Thought was
preferred at first, and this name was chosen for
the Higher Thought Centre, the first organiza-
tion of its kind in England. This name did not,
however, represent a change in point of view,
and the movement in England has been similar
to the therapeutic movement elsewhere. The
term mental science was employed by Judge
Troward in the title of one of the earlier books
widely read in England and the United States,
The Edinburgh Lectures on Mental Science.
The term Higher Thought was also adopted as
the name of a periodical issued for a time in Wis-
consin. In Boston the name Higher Life was
chosen for the first New Thought church. The
name Circle of Divine Ministry came into vogue
in New York City and in Brooklyn, to desig-
nate a centre devoted to mental healing, lec-

iSee, also, The Arena, Jan. 1901, "What the New Thought
Stands For."

2 Note, also. The Heart of the New Thought, by Ella Wheeler
Wilcox, Chicago, 1909.

The New Thought 165

tures, silences, lending libraries, and social gath-
erings of people interested in the movement.
This name later gave place to New Thought
Centre and was practically the equivalent of the
name, Home of Truth, as employed in Cali-
fornia by Mrs. Militz.

In the West, notably in Denver and San Fran-
cisco, the accepted name for several years was
Divine Science. This term originally stood for
a modified or reformed Christian Science, with
certain points of resemblance and some contrasts
with the term New Thought as used in Boston
and elsewhere. The peculiarities disappeared
after a time, and this term as recently employed
by Rev. W. John Murray, author of The Astor
Lectures, New York, 1917, editor of The
Gleaner, and leader of Sunday services in New
York and Philadelphia, is now a synonym of
New Thought. Mr. Murray has popularized the
expression, "The New Thought of Man, The
Larger Thought of God."

In Kansas City, the name Practical Christi-
anity came in time to stand for the whole branch
of the movement under the leadership of The
Society of Silent Unity and the Unity School
of Christianity. This is perhaps the best of all
terms for the movement on its spiritual side.
This name might be applied, for example, to
the movement originating in the West and using

156 The New Thought Movement

the term Home of Truth. It is preferable to
the name metaphysical healing, a term which
has stood for a more abstruse interpretation of
the movement. The term metaphysics, strictly
speaking, applies to a technical system of phi-
losophy, and only by explanation is it to be un-
derstood as the name of a practical movement.

By common consent, the term New Thought
has been more and more used to designate the
entire mental-healing movement, including those
phases of it, such as Practical Christianity in
Kansas City, to which the term was not originally
applied, and even though objections to the term
have been made. By the term, New Thought,
therefore, we understand all phases of the men-
tal-healing movement, including "reformed
Christian Science" and Divine Science.

The early writers and teachers looked to the
same sources as those of the mental-science
period. Some began with Christian Science,
then branched out freely, adopting their own
terms, and teaching classes. Their students in
turn began to teach and to found little centres
of their own. In the course of time, teachers
and students tended in the common direction
since known as New Thought, and so unity came
about. Others owed their impetus to a mental-
science healer and the reading of books on men-
tal science and Prentice Mulford's pamphlets.

The New Thought 157

A common idealistic basis was later discovered
through acquaintance with leaders who had re-
acted against Christian Science, and so again
there was a tendency towards unity.

The newer writers were not ordinarily so well
informed as Mr. Evans and Mr. Barrows, and
they did not indicate the sources of their ideas.
Thus it became customary for any writer to set
forth the New Thought as he apprehended it
without reference to mental science and its fore-
runners. This neglect of the courtesy usually
shown by one writer to others may be explained
by the fact that these writers wished to avoid
any special claims such as those put forward by
the author of Science and Health, and because
it was generally believed that any one could de-
velop the therapeutic ideas for himself. As a
result, however, it is difficult to give the natural
history of books on the New Thought. The
reader is often left with the impression that the
author claims to have discovered all the contents
of his book. The general public is sometimes
mystified, too. Thus when the death of Mr.
Patterson occurred, the New York papers re-
ferred to him as "the founder of the New
Thought movement in America," although his
work did not begin until 1887, and although he
shared with others his pioneer work in Hartford
and New York. Again, writers like Henry

158 The New Thought Movement

Wood and Ralph Waldo Trine, who had not
been mental healers or teachers but who were
interested to make their own expression of the
ideas passing current, also came into the field.
The work of such writers is partly explained
by what went before. Hence we may presup-
pose the mental-science period. But these
writers also contributed to the movement. Thus
new variations of the general teaching were all
the time appearing, and the movement itself
passed through several changes.

In contrast with the mental-science period, the
writers who restated the New Thought at the
time the organizations were coming into being
gave attention to psychological principles then
in vogue, and the terms "subconscious mind"
and "suggestion" became widely popular.
Hence the practical teachings became more in-
telligible, and the general public was less in-
clined to ridicule mental healing. More effort
was made to trace out the psychological factors
of the silent treatment. More use was made of
the idea of affirmations and denials adopted for
the sake of making the general principles directly
practical. Thus suggestion or affirmation came
to be recognized as the common factor in all
types of mental healing.

There was still a tendency to use rather ab-

The New Thought 159

struse terminology, borrowed from Christian
Science or developed by the early leaders of
Divine Science. Thus God was still referred
to impersonally as "Principle," and vague state-
ments were made concerning the identity of God
"with all being," statements which if taken
literally implied pantheism or mysticism. This
habit grew out of the effort to formulate a
"science of sciences" or "science of Being" to
take the place of Christian Science. It fostered
speculation, and implied an aloofness from the
world of fact, a tendency to overlook the lessons
of experience. The aflSrmations or suggestions
were often based on this "metaphysical" science,
instead of on the concrete principles of the Chris-
tian life. Although the teachers of this type of
mental-healing theory frequently quoted the
Bible and interpreted it in Simday-school les-
sons, they made no use of the directly practical
clue to the "science of life and happiness" which
Mr. Quimby saw in the teachings of Jesus. But
this tendency to abstractions has been waning.
The practical values of New Thought have sur-
vived, and in time the abstruse "science of
Being" will disappear.

In contrast with the mental-science period,
there was also a strong tendency to individual-
ism which made it difficult to organize the New

160 The New Thought Movement

Thought as a national movement. This was
partly due to the fact that some of the leaders
emulated Mrs. Eddy and drew a little circle of
followers around them, with their own magazines,
their own books, and organizations; and partly
to the fact that the New Thought was a protest
against authority. The reaction had to be rad-
ical to be effective. Some of the leaders per-
sisted in their radical independence to the end.
Others yielded for the sake of cooperation and
the promulgation of the general principles. The
effort to organize the movement as a whole was
at one time almost halted by this individualism.
But the radicalism was overcome, the National
New Thought Alliance became duly recognized
and the harmonious national organization became
international.

Again, an element of optimism was introduced.
This belief in the goodness of life, the emphasis
on and quest for the good in all things was im-
plicit in the movement from the beginning. But
the newer writers brought out this faith more
clearly and made optimism a prominent element
of the New Thought. The "old thought" was
undeniably pessimistic, it dwelt on sin, em-
phasized the darkness and misery of the world,
the distress and the suffering. The new dwelt
on life and light, pointing the way to the mastery
of all sorrow and suffering. This optimism has

The New Thought 161

since been one of the most characteristic features
of the New Thought.^

The quest for freedom also became more ex-
plicit. The old theology held man in bondage.
Conventional society was in many respects an
obstacle. Too much stress had been placed on
heredity and environment, so the New-Thought
writers contended. Man is by divine purpose,
by birth, and his true human inheritance, free.
He must come forth and "claim his freedom,''
the true freedom of his inner or spiritual nature.
He should take his clue from the ideal, not from
the actualities of his natural existence. He
should rely on himself, develop his inner pow-
ers, believe in his own experiences and intuitions.
This thought was frequently expressed in two
periodicals widely popular at one time. Freedom,
edited by Helen Wilmans, and Eleanor Kirk's
Idea, edited by Mrs. Ames.

A new emphasis was put on "the law of at-
traction." It was pointed out that just as dis-
iease in its physical expression corresponds to the
inner state which caused it, so in general man's
outward conditions express the inward life.
The inner state was regarded as the centre of at-
traction, drawing its like. To change or im-
prove one's conditions, one must then change the

1 See Handbook of the New Thought, p. 10 ; The Spirit of the
New Thought, p. 137.

162 The New Thought Movement

inner centre, adopt a different attitude, make
other and better affirmations, look out on life
with more optimistic expectations. This em-
phasis on inward attraction also implied the be-
lief that what we attract we need, that what
comes we should accept with the realization that
it is for our good. This was another way of say-
ing "all is good." ^

Implied in this principle of attraction and
essentially one with it is the belief in mental at-
titudes as fundamental. One should become
aware that life is to a large extent what we make
it by our attitude toward it. Learning how we
have generated our ills and created our misery,
we should profit by the lesson, turn about and
adopt an attitude making for success. We
should not only anticipate the good, look for
success, a long and happy life ; but actively adopt
an attitude habitually making for health, free-
dom, prosperity. If we fail in life, our own at-
titude is at fault. When we succeed, it is be-
cause our attitude was affirmative. We may
adopt whatever attitude we will. The future
is in our hands, so the New-Thought leaders as-
sure us.^

Again, the word "realization" came into vogue
to signify the method by which affirmations were

1 See Spiritual and Mental Attraction, by Eugene Del Mar.

2 See, for example, Mrs. Gestefeld*s Hov> We Master Owr Fate.

The New Thought 168

to be made eflFective, that they might give an
impetus to the subconscious mind, might gener-
ate an attitude making for success. To realize
is not merely to repeat a formula but to make
it your own, enter into it vividly, dynamically,
productively. To realize the value of an affirm-
ation is to grasp the implied truth or law, to
think it out, enter into its spirit, assimilate its
life. This is partly accomplished through rea-
soning, partly through silence or meditation. To
"enter the silence" thus became the favorite ex-
pression among disciples of the New Thought.^
To carry out the above principles is, in brief,
to realize the superiority of the spirit over the
flesh, to triumph over circimastance, agreeing
with Emerson that "the soul makes circum-
stance." Just how this shall be done will de-
pend of course upon the individual. If one
starts with some of the abstractions mentioned
above, one may try to "demonstrate" in a way at
variance with fact and with the world.^ That
is, one may try to affirm ideas which have no
connection with reality. In this case there will
be a fall from the heights of theory, as in the
case of so many who have ceased to become Chris-
tian Scientists and have gradually rediscovered
the world. But if one starts with the given

1 See Lessons in Truth, by Emille Cady, p. 111.

2 Handbook of the New Thought, p. 146.

164 The New Thought Movement

spiritual situation in which one is placed, inter-
preted in the light of what one believes to be the
divine ideal, then one may learn that the process
of triumphing over the flesh is already in oper-
ation. Thus when Henry Wood says, "Pain is
friendly,'' he means that one may transfer one's
attention by entering into the benefits, the good
implied in the present experience, and so rise
above the pain, overcome it, show the triimiph-
ant power of the spirit. Very much depends,
therefore, upon one's way of taking this en-
deavor to "demonstrate over" circumstance.

Much also depends upon the conception of the
inner or higher self, for the clauns in its behalf
depend upon the type of the individual making
the affirmation. Mr. Wood makes clear the im-
plied principles as generally accepted by disciples
of the New Thought in a paper read before the
Metaphysical Club, entitled, "To What Extent
is Self -Healing Practicable?" Mr. Wood says,
"A thought in any direction makes it easier for
the next one to follow it. Like a meadow brook,
thinking wears channels. When concentrated, it
wears them rapidly. The nature of faith would
be plainer, if it were defined as the firm affirma-
tion of ideas. We need not be discouraged if
the resolvent power of thought does not at once
melt down the solidified walls of man-made limi-
tation which ages have erected. It is everything

The New Thought 165

to find the principle^ and make a start in the
right direction. Every true mental healer will
gladly welcome the time when all so recognize
the divinity within that no aid from without is
needed. He does not claim to heal, except by
helping to put the right occupant upon the
throne. He helps his brother to help himself.
He will tell you that normal healing is self-heal-
ing, or rather consists in the attainment of a con-
dition where there is harmony with environment.
The time is to be hastened when every one shall
know, not only the objective Lord, but the
divinity that is within him. The supreme heal-
ing consciousness is that of a felt oneness with
the Universal Omnipotent Spirit.

"What about practical exercises, and how
shall one begin? Erect a mental gymnasium,
and utilize every silent and unoccupied hour,
whether of day or night, when awake, in swing-
ing the dumb bells of concentration upon high
ideals. Affirm their presence now, though they
are not yet in visible expression. Remember
that thought leads and manifestation follows, so
such an order is perfectly logical and scientific.
Turn about and face physical sensation, as a
mental habit, until it is measurably vanquished,
instead of tamely falling before it.

"The real fall of man consists in his servitude
to his own morbid creations. Did God ever

166 The New Thought Movement

create disease? But even disorder and pain,
when rightly interpreted, may be regarded as
only spectres that prowl in the basement of our
own nature to drive us higher.

"Having shut the door of your imseen gym-
nasium against the outer world, in the name of
your divine sonship claim all good as present
and filling you. Such a habit soon begins to
color the every-day consciousness. May I hint
at a few ideals as suggestive, in the first person
singular, and say that repetition is the law which
makes them graphic.

"I am soul and spirit.

"I am at one with the Universal Good.

"Harmony, love, strength and wholeness are
with and in me.

"I rule the body and delight in it as a holy
temple.

"I rightfully claim the control of all my pow-
ers, mental and physical.

"Another ideal: I love everybody. Note the
fact, that antagonism is worse than malaria.

"If such claims were made in the name of the
lower and detached selfhood, it would seem pre-
sumptuous, but their very object is to identify
the conscious ego with the higher and divine self-
hood.^ On that plane there can be no exclusive-
ness or selfishness. Unlimited good belongs not

1 Qulmby's term was '^the scientific man."

The New Thought 167

only to all, but to each. In that delectable at-
mosphere every one owns everything." *

We may regard the writings of Henry Wood
as representative of the more rational expression
of the New Thought.^ Mr. Wood's books were
widely read at the time the New Thought was
emerging from the mental-science period. He
was one of the first writers to take up the sub-
ject because of personal interest in mental heal-
ing, in contrast with interests in the world of af-
fairs. After a successful career in business in
early life, Mr. Wood suffered from a nervous
breakdown and was pronounced incurable by the
best physicians. Treated with success by several
mental healers, he became deeply interested in
studying the implied principles and methods.
Accordingly, he gave up other pursuits and de-
voted the remainder of his life, during twenty
years, to spreading the new ideas by means of
his books and through the financial aid which he
gave to the societies and publications devoted to
mental healing.

Mr. Wood may in fact be called the first New-
Thought philanthropist. Saying, "I have found
something which the world needs and I must
give it out," he began to publish books on the

^Journal of Practical Metaphysics, April, 1897.
2 See, especially, Mr. Wood's statement concerning the move-
ment. The Spirit of the New Thought, p. 17.

168 The New Thought Movement

subject shortly after he had proved the prin-
ciples for himself. He gave his books very
freely to libraries and to people who might per-
chance take an interest in them. He encouraged
editors and publishers of magazines devoted to
the subject by subscribing liberally and distribut-
ing copies of the newer periodicals. He also
wrote a great many letters in answer to questions
addressed to him by readers of his books, sug-
gesting in each case that these inquirers try the
new method for themselves.

Mr. Wood worked actively in this kind of pro-
pagandism until his death, which occmTcd March
28, 1909. He was the first to take the lead in
spreading the new ideas through publicity, in
contrast with the work of healing and teaching
classes, as carried on by leaders who had not felt
the impulse to spread the movement and organ-
ize it. He was also the first to adopt fiction as
an added means of reaching the public, and in
his Edward Burton and Victor Serenus,^ stories
with a purpose, he tried to interest a much wider
public in the new therapeutic ideas. To his
efforts more than to the work of any other leader
may be attributed the success of the first New
Thought organization in Boston.

1 This book was dramatized and given a performance in a Bos-
ton theatre. The play was not, however, a success. It was prob-
ably the first New-Thought drama.

The New Thought 169

Mr. Wood was fond of saying that when the
possibilities of mankind were in a measure real-
ized, each man would be his own priest and phy-
jsician. Deeply religious by nature, he lived ac-
cording to his theory that the individual has a
right to maintain priestly relations with his God
without ministerial agency. Shortly before his
death, in response to his wife's suggestion that
he might possibly desire the presence of a clergy-
man, he said, "I need no intermediary." His
publishers say of him, "He passed away as he
had lived, honorably, reverently, and peace-
fully."

Mr. R. C. Douglass, himself a New Thought
leader, well acquainted with most of the leaders
of the movement in recent years, says of him,
"Among New-Thought writers he stands as a
distinctly representative man, whose reasoning is
always characterized by fairness, and comes from
a heart of integrity. Like a true philosopher, he
is always dealing with principles . . • I have be-
fore me his book entitled. The New Old Healing,
Here he is dealing only with principles, which
underlie all spiritual healing, showing that
health, happiness and prosperity are the fruit of
a well-balanced scientific mentalitv. He would
have men understand that healing is merely the
adjustment of the mentality to principles of
truth. This is what constitutes a man a prophet.

I

170 The New Thought Movement

"Most truly we live at the dawning of a
philosophic age, and Henry Wood is a prophet
heralding its coming. . . . He makes it clear
that the teachings of Jesus Christ and his won-
derful healings rest on the fundamental basis
of a spiritual philosophy. The clear province
of the New Thought school of writers and teach-
ers is not the abrogation of any Christian prin-
ciples, but rather to give a better interpretation
of those principles, consonant with truth, right-
eousness and health • . . That man is a noble
spiritual being may be set down as Mr. Wood's
major premise."

Mr. Wood did not claim originality for any
of his views, but called the attention of his read-
ers to their own resources, especially to intuition
as the power of realizing the divine presence and
attaining truth in one's own right. Most of the
leading books on mental science were published
before his Ideal Suggestion, Boston, 1894, and
on these he was dependent to some extent, al-
though using his own terms and putting the mat-
ter as it appealed directly to him. He once told
me that the first great thought that came to him,
as a means of verifying the therapeutic principle
for himself was the affirmation, "God is here."
That electrical sentence disclosed a new world
for him. Profiting by its power over him, and
seeing the advantage of concentration upon a

The New Thought 171

single definite thought, he wrote his book, which
consisted of preliminary chapters explaining the
therapeutic principles ; and then a series of pages
with an "ideal suggestion" in large type on the
left-hand page and an explanatory paragraph
on the opposite page. "God is here" was one of
these affirmations. "Pain is friendly," another.
Each was calculated to impress a helpful thought
on the mind through silent realization or spirit-
ual meditation.

Later, Mr. Wood carried out the same idea
by establishing a room under the auspices of the
Metaphysical Club of Boston known as the
"silence room," where one could sit "in quietness
and confidence" contemplating a painting on the
opposite wall symbolizing spiritual truth, with
various ideal suggestions to be chosen by the
devotee according to need. Mr. Wood brought
forward his book on ideal suggestion at the op-
portune moment. Suggestion was becoming a
magic word, soon to be very popular and to be
adopted even by the scientific psychologists, al-
ways conservative when it is a question of any
gift made by mental therapeutists. The word
"ideal" was coming to have new significance in
view of what Evans and other leaders in the men-
tal-science period had said. Mr. Wood happily
combined the two words and gave the New
Thought a more definite turn. In his New

172 The New Thought Movement

Thought Simplifiedj published several years
later, Mr. Wood made further application of the
same principle. The leaders of the Unity move-
ment in Kansas City made great use of the same
idea, and for many years an ideal suggestion has
been printed on a page by itself in Unity. The
custom of holding meetings for meditation at
noon became general throughout the mental-
healing world.

The writings of Emilie Cady, especially
Finding the Christ in Ourselves and Lessons in
Truth, published by the Unity group, Kansas
City, should be mentioned as among the books
most widely read when the New Thought was
taking shape in its present form. Thought,
later called Unity, and The Life, edited by A.
P. Barton, Kansas City, were among the most
widely read magazines. Mrs. Helen Van-An-
derson's The Bight Knock, and The Journal of
a Live Woman, belong with the influential books
of that period. Among Mr. Whipple's books
The Philosophy of Mental Healing was best
known. Mr. Trine's influence on the movement
dates from the publication of his first book,
What All the World's A-seeking, 1896.

It can hardly be said that the writers of this
period were original in the sense in which orig-
inality is usually understood. Coming after the
period when the mental-healing ideas had begun

The New Thought 173

to be popular, and when the newer psychology
was becoming widely known, their part was to
restate mental science in their own way, to make
it popular, and to show its application in mani-
fold directions. Out of their efforts came the
first organizations and the first churches. They
were among the best of the New-Thought lead-
ers and their work led the way to the national
movement and the International New Thought
Alliance.*

1 On the general significance of the New Thought movement, see
Mr. Chesley's essay in The Spirit of the New Thought, p. 37.
The essay by Miss Nannie S. Bond, p. 135, is from the point of
view of a patient. On the New Thought today, see the summary,
p. 241. The Handbook of the New Thought, New York, 1917,
contains critical estimates of the movement. The Spirit of the
New Thought contains an historical bibliography. Ncmtilus, edited
by Elizabeth Towne, Holyoke, Mass., contains lists of books from
time to time, also news items from the various societies and
centres. Master Mind, edited by Mrs. Militz, Los Angeles, Cal.,
contains the news of the month in Homes of Truth and other
New Thought organizations.

VIII

THE FIBST OEGANIZATIONS

The first New-Thought society with a regu-
lar leader and organization, in Boston, was the
Church of the Higher Life, which was the out-
growth of a small beginning in Sunday services
started by Mrs. Helen Van- Anderson in Feb-
ruary, 1894. The object of these services, in
Mrs. Van- Anderson's words, was "to form a
centre where words of cheer and friendly fel-
lowship might be given and exchanged; also to
make definite statements concerning Life Prin-
ciples and their application to character and
health building. This was the gospel preached
and practised by every one so far as he or she
understood. It was indeed glad tidings, and
the joy of imparting was only equalled by the
joy of receiving. From the little hall it was
soon necessary to move into a large one, and
from that to a still larger, Allen Hall, 44 St.
Botolph Street. Seemingly without effort but
with a strong impetus from earnest hearts, the
little stream of influence has widened its banks
and deepened its current, until it is now plainly
on its way to the Great Sea.

The FntsT Oboanizations 175

"The Church of the Higher Life, as its name
implies, stands for exalted living — ^that living
which emanates from an earnest aspiration to
know and do; to know the best there is to know,
of Gk)d, humanity, the soul, the mind, the body
— in short, of Life and how to live. This Church
has no formulated creed. It leaves every one
to formulate his own. Its central and basic pre-
cept is that of the Great Master: *Love is the ful-
filling of the Law.' Its heart is warm, its vision
open, its motive pure, its hospitality broad, its
fellowship universal. Its enthusiastic members
are many; their work is rich with the spirit of
altruism and noble self -giving. It has a corps
of fifty-two letter writers who volunteer to write
cheerful words to invalids in distant homes or to
any who for other reasons are shut in from fel-
lowship with the outside world. These writers
also send literature that will comfort, instruct
and inspire such as need or desire the postofSce
ministry. It has a flourishing Young People's
Club called *The Arkeso' (from the Greek, to
assist) whose mission is to carry good cheer into
hospitals, reformatories or private homes, and in
every way possible, proflFer an assisting hand
and heart wherever they may be needed. It has
a Benevolent Committee whose members carry
the gospel of health and wealth to the poor and
sick of their own commimity, and wherever else

176 The New Thought Movement

they are called. It has an Emerson Study Club,
where teachers, preachers and students may find
many a hard life-problem solved in the light of
Emerson's philosophy and far-reaching insight.
It has mothers' meetings where all questions
pertaining to home and child government and
education are freely discussed and expounded.
It has spiritual training classes wherein there
is a heartfelt exchange of profound experiences
and the most earnest abandonment to thoughts
and methods that will promote spiritual unfold-
ment. It has a healing service every Sunday
for the benefit of those far or near who may de-
sire its healing potency." ^

After a number of years Mrs. Van- Anderson
resigned to begin similar work in other cities.
DiflFerent speakers were engaged from Sunday
to Sunday during two years, and later Rev. Lucy
C. McGee became the minister. The organiza-
tion, at present without a permanent leader, still
exists, although its activities are limited to the
Sunday services. This church is interesting to
devotees of the New Thought since it was the
first society of its kind, although having much
in common with similar organizations that had
an independent origin in the West and Middle
West.

In the simamer of 1894, Miss Sarah J. Farmer

I Journal of Practical MetaphyHcs, Dec, 1896.

The Fiest Oeganizations 177

established at Eliot, Maine, the Greenacre Con-
ferences. The conferences were established for
the most part to promote interest in the great
religions of the world, in accordance with the
interest aroused at the World's Parliament of
Religions, held in Chicago during the World's
Fair, 1893. But their founder was deeply inter-
ested in the New Thought and was known as a
leader of the movement. Greenacre naturally
became the centre in the siunmer for those who
were active in the New-Thought gatherings in
Boston and New York during the winter.
Many of the mental-healing leaders from diflFer-
ent parts of the country were heard at Green-
acre, and Miss Farmer's conferences set the ex-
ample for New-Thought meetings held elsewhere
during the summer, notably the Jackson Lec-
tures, organized by Henry Wood and other
leaders at Jackson, N. H., in 1896; and at Osca-
wana, N. Y., where conferences were established
by Mr. Patterson and other leaders.

At least a week was devoted to the New
Thought each year at Greenacre, and in addition
to the regular lectures smaller meetings or Sun-
day afternoon sessions in the large tent were led
by New-Thought speakers. On the camping
ground, known as Sunrise Camp, disciples of the
New Thought were located for the season, un-
der the leadership of Mr. Frederick Reed, later

178 The New Thought Movement

secretary of the Metaphysical Club. During
the summer of 1897 there was established a de-
partment of the conferences holding regular
sessions throughout the season and known as
The School of Applied Metaphysics. The
teachers were Miss Ellen M. Dyer, the pioneer
New-Thought teacher and healer in Philadel-
phia,* and Horatio W. Dresser, chairman. In
1898 this department was given up in favor of
class-work by various leaders.

Greenacre continued to be a leading New-
Thought centre for several seasons. A number
of the authors, notably Henry Wood and Mr.
Trine, spent a portion of the summer there, and
owed their growing interest in the direction of
the New Thought partly to Miss Farmer's lead-
ership. Morning meditation meetings were
held by followers of the New Thought. Those
meetings were among the best that have ever
been held and gave the impetus to establish
similar work elsewhere. Miss Farmer's spirit
in her stronger years did much to establish people
in a broadly tolerant way of thinking. Green-
acre stood for the constructive spirit. Those
who caught this spirit endeavored to make the
New Thought no less broad, tolerant and con-
structive. Some of the leaders who took the
initiative in organizing the Metaphysical Club

1 See The Spirit of the New Thought, p. 97.

The FmsT Organizations 179

gained their larger impetus from these confer-
ences.

As indicated in her paper on "The Abundant
Life," ^ Miss Farmer approached the New
Thought on its spiritual side. To her it was the
same as Christianity at its best, also the same as
the spirit which she found expressed by the
Swamis who came from India to expound the
Vedanta philosophy. Both Miss Farmer and
the Swamis spoke in New-Thought gatherings
during the winter. This was the beginning of a
common interest which endured for a number of
years. Miss Farmer held that each speaker at
Greenacre should have full and free hearing if
he did not assail any other speaker. Hence the
New Thought found expression, and the medi-
tation meetings led by its devotees had direct in-
fluence upon the religious development of the
mental-healing movement in later years. Green-
acre continued to be a New-Thought centre in
part until its founder espoused Bahaism and
other teachings not so directly connected with
the New Thought.

The first New-Thought society organized in
Boston in 1894-'95 as a result of Greenacre was
called The Procopeia, with headquarters at 200
Huntington Avenue. The general announce-
ment of this society was as follows: "It is not

1 See The Spirit of the New Thought, p. 99.

180 The New Thought Movement

limited by any creed or dogma, either religious,
ethical, or philosophical, but endeavors to seek
and to give to its members the truth, wherever
it may be found • . • By the recognition of the
divinity of every human soul, and a belief in the
imlimited possibilities of mankind through the
imderstanding of truth and the love of good, we
believe we shall be able to push forward and to
progress. It is the aim of the Procopeia to pro-
vide suitable headquarters in Boston where the
ablest leaders of progressive thought may have a
responsive and sympathetic hearing, and where
members of the Club may find inspiration and
courage for the practical affairs of life." This
society was short-lived and its members event-
ually joined the Metaphysical Club, organized a
few weeks later.

The organizing of the Metaphysical Club was
the chief event in the history of the New
Thought in Boston. The Club brought together
some of the leaders of the mental-science period,
such as Dr. Winkley and Mr. E. M. Chesley,
who had been active in the Church of the Divine
Unity and The Mental Healing Monthly. It
helped to bring into formulation the larger ten-
dencies of the New Thought as expressed, for
example, by Henry Wood, Mr. Patterson, Mr.
Trine and others. It aroused public interest in
mental healing on the part of people of liberal

The Fiest Organizations 181

religious belief. It also gave expression in part
to the Greenacre spirit. Out of its activities
came in the course of time the national organ-
ization and the international movement, in co-
operation with leaders from New York and other
cities.

The mental-science meetings had come to an
end, there was no magazine devoted to mental
healing published in Boston, and there was need
of further eflfort in spreading the New Thought
at the time the Club was called into being.
Realizing th^ need for such a society, several
of the leaders new and old called a meeting in
behalf of the New Thought movement at the
home of Dr. J. W. Winkley, 108 Huntington
Avenue, in January, 1895. Besides Dr. and
Mrs. Winkley, there were present Henry Wood,
Mrs. Abby Morton Diaz, Mr. Warren A. Rod-
man, Miss Catherine Hurd, Miss Elizabeth
Hurd, Mr. Leonard Stone, and Mr. C. M. Bar-
rows. Mr. Wood outlined a plan for organ-
izing a metaphysical club, bringing forward
cogent reasons for the existence of a society for
the sake of popularizing the progressive thought
of the day.

The meeting adjourned without action to a
date a week later, when the following were pres-
ent in addition to those mentioned above, and
with the exception of Messrs. Barrows and Stone:

182 The New Thought Movement

Miss Lillian Whiting, Miss Durgin, Miss Scott,
Mrs. M. E, T. Chapin, Mr. and Mrs. E. M.
Chesley, Mrs. J. A. Dresser, Horatio W. Dres-
ser, Rev. Loren B. Macdonald, Miss G. P.
Hayes, Mrs. L. P. Morrill, Mrs. Mary Burpee,
and Mr. Frederick Reed.

These people organized themselves into the
Metaphysical Club of Boston, with the following
officers: Rev. L. B. Macdonald, a Unitarian min-
ister, president; Dr. J. W. Winkley, vice-presi-
dent; Mr. Frederick Reed, of the Greenacre
Conferences, secretary. The purpose of the
Club was stated as follows: "To promote inter-
est in and the practice of a true spiritual philos-
ophy of life and happiness ; to show that through
right thinking one's loftiest ideas jmay be
brought into perfect realization; to advance the
intelligent and systematic treatment of disease by
mental methods."

The first public lecture was delivered by Mrs.
Julia Ward Howe, March 28, 1895. Other lec-
tures were given by Rev. Minot J. Savage, Pro-
fessor A. E. Dolbear, and Hamilton Wright
Mabie; and four social functions were held be-
fore the close of the season. The purpose of
the first season was to attract and interest the
public. Hence the lectures were of a general
character and the speakers were well known in
public life. It was not deemed wise to intro-

The FmsT Organizations 188

duce the New Thought at first, but to lead grad-
ually to it when the organization was well under
way.

This was the first permanent New-Thought
Club, and it set the standard for such societies
elsewhere. It was the first mental-healing so-
ciety to put its special interests on a large basis
with a view to reaching the world. It was the
beginning of the activities which grew in the
course of time into a world-wide movement. It
led the way^ for the establishment of Centres,
Circles, or other organizations with the same gen-
eral interests in view, whatever the names at-
tached to them. The fact that it came into ex-
istence was a sign that the mental-healing move-
ment had passed out of its preliminary or experi-
mental stage and was assuming the general char-
acteristics which it was to continue to possess.
Not many speakers were ready at first to ex-
tend the movement in the same way into other
cities. But these were forthcoming in the course
of time. Other societies sprang up in diflferent
parts of the country, on an independent basis.
Other attempts were made to develop a national
movement. But it was the movement which be-
gan in Boston that eventually succeeded. Out
of it grew the effort to form a permanent inter-
national organization.

Mr. Wood maintained that the Club should

184 The New Thought Movement

be democratic, that it might even dispense with
a president, although it was deemed prudent to
elect a president. Rev. Mr. Macdonald, the
first president, had taken an active part in the
mental-science gatherings several years before.
Afterwards, presidents were chosen from those
more actively identified with the New Thought.
Mr. Warren A. Rodman succeeded Mr. Reed
as secretary, and when the Club established
headquarters, with a library and bookstore, Mr.
Rodman was the member in regular attendance.
With the opening of the season in the fall of
1895, subjects directly pertaining to mental
healing were introduced. Different leaders set
forth the fundamental principles, as they under-
stood them, and allied topics were introduced
from time to time to show that these principles
apply in various directions, not merely to mental
healing but to social and religious questions.
Occasionally there was a symposium led by four
speakers on a subject such as this, "What is it
that heals?" Sometimes a speaker of prom-
inence was engaged, in order to attract the at-
tention of the public. But the subjects bearing
directly on the New Thought proved more in-
teresting.

In October, 1896, The Journal of Practical
Metaphysics, Horatio W. Dresser, editor, was
established to represent the Club and its larger

The First Organizations 185

interests. Many of the leading essays read be-
fore the Club were published in the magazine,
and its leading members were regular contribu-
tors. Some of these papers have been gathered
into a volume, The Spirit of the New Thought ,
New York, 1917, to indicate the scope and value
of the New Thought at the time it was assuming
more definite form. Other speakers, notably
Mr. Wood, gathered their essays into volumes of
their own. Some of the papers also appeared
in Mind, published by Mr. C. B. Patterson, New
York. Among other periodicals widely circu-
lated among New Thought people in this its
formative period should be mentioned Universal
Truth, Chicago, and Harmony, San Francisco.
The Club did not in the early years establish
Sunday services, but the Church of the Higher
Life met the need of all who desired a distinc-
tive New-Thought service. In accordance with
the democratic principles on which the Club was
based, no leader was made prominent over
others, and in the early years the Club was con-
cerned with its main interests. In concentration
there was strength in those years. The New
Thought began to attract more attention as a re-
sult of the Club's activities, and it became promi-
nent enough to be adversely criticized. Some
of these criticisms with Mr. Wood's answers are
included in ^The Spirit of the New Thought.

186 The New Thought Movement

E£Forts were made from time to time to state
more definitely what the New Thought is and
what it stands for. One of these statements,
adopted as the official exposition of the main
principles which the Club represented, is printed
in full elsewhere.^

The statement of the purpose of the Club
printed regularly in The Journal of Practical
Metaphysics, reads as follows: "Organized to
promote an active interest in a more spiritual
philosophy and its practical application to hu-
man life. Its spirit is broad, tolerant and con-
structive, and its object an impartial search for
truth. All who sympathize with these purposes,
without regard to past or present affiliations of
sect, party or system, are cordially invited to co-
operate." At the time this statement was drawn
up the executive committee consisted of Henry
Wood, Mrs, Mary E. T. Chapin, Horatio .W.
Dresser, Miss Lilian Whiting, Walter B.
Adams, Miss Sarah J. Farmer, Mrs. Mabel B.
Tibbitts. Dr. Winkley was treasurer, and Mr.
W. A. Rodman secretary.

In another statement drawn up at this time,
the following is given as the purpose of the Club :
"The Metaphysical Club, while it has no dogma
to iu*ge and no sectarian basis to maintain, is
doing a work which is positive and progressive.

1 The Spirit of the New Thought, p. 915.

The FntsT Organizations 187

It seeks truth and the unity and harmony which
come from the understanding of truth. It sees
no rival in the field, because the success of every
organization with allied aims is recognized as a
triumph of the great principles for which the
Club stands. It does not ignore the marked
and helpful developments resulting from the
scientific study of the physical world, but aims
to discover and utilize the harmony of laws and
action between it and the metaphysical. It
seeks the spark of infinitude in the seemingly
finite, and seeks to fan it into a blaze that shall
be the light of the world. It is therefore striv-
ing to bring into hearty cooperation all the in-
dividual potencies that have tended toward the
high end which it has in view, believing that thus
a resistless impulse might be given to the develop-
ment of life on the highest attainable plane." ^
It will be observed that this statement takes
one out into the open, in contrast with the ten-
dency of Mr. Evans's later subjectivism. In
contrast with Christian Science, it admits the ex-
istence of the natural world and sees value in the
scientific study of nature. It implies the
philosophy of evolution, spiritually interpreted.
This acceptance of the law of evolution was char-
acteristic of Mr. Wood, who was for the most
part the author of the above statement. In this

1 Journal of Practical Metanphysics, October, 1896.

188 The New Thought Movement

acceptance the leaders of the Club concurred.
Their type of New Thought is thus distinguished
from that called Divine Science in so far as the
latter denies that man ever learns or develops
from experience.

The essayists constantly offered correctives
of the narrower type of thought prevailing
among those who had reacted against Christian
Science but were not yet wholly free. Thus Mr.
Wood read a paper entitled "Our Bodies," in
which he pointed the way to a larger way of
thinking. In a paper entitled "Business and the
Higher Life," Mr. Rodman applied the leading
principles in still another direction. Mr. E. A.
Pennock, a Quaker by persuasion and among
the first of the Friends to adopt mental healing,
brought forward a paper on "A Physical Basis
for Righteousness," and in other essays con-
nected the New Thought with current social
problems. Mr. Pennock was at one time as-
sociated with the Ben Adhem House, Boston,
the first social settlement in this country in
which devotees of the New Thought took a
prominent part.^ After the outbreak of the
Spanish- American war, Mr. Wood contributed
a paper on "War from the Metaphysical Stand-
point.'' 2

1 See The Spirit of the New Thought, pp. 73, 103.
^Jowmal of Practical Metaphyaics, September, 1898.

The Fiest Organizations 189

The magazine which had represented the Club
was merged in The Arerm, Boston, with the is-
sue for December, 1898; with Mr. Paul Tyner,
a New-Thought writer, afs editor, and Horatio
W. Dresser, associate editor. The first com-
bined number contained an essay entitled "The
New Thought," intended to interest a larger
public. During the year 1899 The Arena was
moved to New York, and it ceased to be a New-
Thought periodical. Dr. J. W. Winkley edited
and published Practical Ideals, 1900-1912, as the
representative periodical of the Boston move-
ment.

Mr. Chesley, well informed in the history of
thought, contributed various papers to the Club
in which he traced the connection^ between its
metaphysics and that of the past. Mr. Frank
B. Sprague, author of Spiritual Consciousness,
was a regular contributor to the magazines and
to the meetings of the Club. Another leader
who later became known as an author advocating
a kind of modified Christian Science was Mr.
Aaron M. Crane, author of Right and Wrong
Thinking. Mr. C. B. Newcomb's AlVs Right
With the World should be mentioned as belong-
ing to this period.

The organization of the Metaphysical Club,
then, marks the enlargement of the mental-heal-
ing movement from the more local interests of

190 The New Thought Movement

mental science to the eflFort to extend the move-
ment and make it national. Mental healing was
still the chief interest. It was what gave the
Club its being, and in the years when too many-
other subjects were introduced the Club was not
so successful. The New Thought came directly
from mental science, and hence it is explicable by
the movement which went before and which
dated from Quimby's pioneer work in Maine.
But interest in mental healing gave the disciples
of the New Thought a point of view, a way of
approaching all questions, a way of looking at
life as a whole; it gave an impetus toward in-
dividualism, toward freedom ; it implied religious
liberalism; it implied idealism as a working or
practical philosophy. Hence the special inter-
est is related with all other interests, and we find
the disciples of the New Thought advocating it
as an all-inclusive program. If they sometimes
made their work too broad and so lacked definite-
ness, if they sometimes claimed too much for
their special interest, it was because their first
desire was to gain recognition for their point of
view, with sufficient emphasis to achieve results.
The devotees were eager to show that the New
Thought not only stands for a method of heal-
ing but for a philosophy, a positive or affirmative
idealism ; hence for religion, applied Christianity,
the rediscovery of the gospel of healing. In the

The FntsT Organizations 191

course of time, the New Thought as thus con-
ceived became suflSciently known and recognized
to make possible the successful representative
movement of today.

The New Thought has been defined by Eliza-
beth Towne as "the fine art of recognizing, realiz-
ing and manifesting the God in the individual."
The first organizations were established to teach
this fine art as applied to mental healing. Hence
recognition of "the Christ within'' was the cardi-
nal principle. The later organizations have
sought to make this fine art known in its relation
not merely to mental healing but to the whole of
life. Hence the New Thought has become a
recognized jfhase of liberal Christianity through-
out the world.

IX

THE FIEST CONVENTIONS

As indicated above, attempts to organize the
mental-healing movement when it was known as
"mental science" were made in Boston and other
cities. But these efforts were premature, inas-
much as there was as yet no parent organization
which could be taken as a model for the national
movement. Moreover, the subject of mental
healing had not long been before the public, and
it was too soon to expect a general expression
of interest.

Meanwhile, the mental-healing movement had
been growing in the far West under the auspices
of the name Divine Science. The first conven-
tion was held in San Francisco, 1894, under the
auspices of the International Divine Science As-
sociation, organized May 17, 1892, at Home Col-
lege. This Association was "founded for the
promulgation of Divine Science, the God idea
of perfect unity, harmony and wholeness, as-
sociated together in unity of spirit, for the heal-
ing of the nations, and the general good of hu-
manity." The first congress lasted six days, the
second was held in Chicago, 1895; the third in

The First Conventions 193

*
Kansas City, 1896; and the fourth in St. Louis,

1897. This convention was said to be "the
strongest Divine Science congress held by the As-
sociation, and the most farlreaching in its in-
fluence for good to the general public." The
general motto of the first congress was Unity,
the subject of the second Truth, of the third
Atonement, and of the fourth. Life.

The subject of the fifth congress, held in Odd
Fellows' Hall, San Francisco, November 14-19,
1899, was "Truth of Being." The following
statement indicates the general point of view:
"Divine Science is unity. Divine Science ac-
curately proves the unity of God with all living.
A like revision and adjustment of thought is
everywhere taking place in the secular, religious
and scientific world. It is being understood
that the law of the universe is the nature and
goodness of the Supreme One ; the thoughts and
ways of all must eventually be adjusted to ac-
cord with this knowledge, and Divine Science be
accepted as the basis of true education. The
Science of Being includes every subject pertain-
ing to Infinite Life and the good of humanity,
the well-being of every creature. Its work is
the universal dissemination of a knowledge of
the Divine purpose of the Creator in creation."

The president of the Association was Mrs. M.
E. Cramer, the pioneer leader of that branch of

194 The New Thought Movement

the therapeutic movement, editor of Harmony^
and author of various books on the general sub-
ject, "Divine Science, the Christ Method of
Healing/' The speakers included the leading
western representatives of the movement, with
papers by the following writers, read by others
in their absence: Rev. Helen Van- Anderson,
Horatio W. Dresser, Henry Wood, Oliver C.
Sabin, and Francis E. Mason.^ One session was
entirely devoted to experiences of healing with
accounts of direct and personal testimony. Mr.
R. C. Douglass, then of LaCrosse, Wis., whose
interest in mental healing dates from 1886, made
an address on "Your Own, and How to Obtain
it." Mr. Douglass was the only leader present
who has since been connected with all the im-
portant New Thought organizations in the coun-
try.

It was hoped that the Association would be-
come in truth international. But although its
conventions attracted leaders from all parts of
the country, the time had not come for a per-
manent organization. Other attempts were
made to organize the movement on a large scale,
and during one year there were three so-called
international organizations holding conventions.
The movement which began in Boston with the

1 Mr. Sabin was a pioneer in **refonned Christian Science" in
Washington, D. C, and Mr. Mason a pioneer in Brooklyn, N. Y.

The Fiest Conventions 195

organizing of the Metaphysical Club did not at
once lead to a permanent national society, but
out of its efforts there came in time the first
really international organization.

After the Metaphysical Club had been in ex-
istence four years and had won an assured place
for itself, the time seemed to have come to make
the beginnings of a national movement. Ac-
cordingly, in 1899, the year of the fifth Divine-
Science congress, the Club sent out a call for a
convention of advanced thinkers, without regard
to former affiliations, and looking forward to the
formation of a national organization for New
Thought propagandism. Delegates were in-
vited to attend from many states.

This, the first New-Thought convention un-
der that name, was held in Lorimer Hall, Tre-
mont Temple, Boston, October 24-26, 1899.
The program indicated the reason for calling
the convention at that time: "The preliminary
notice of this convention has disclosed such a
broad and deep interest in the* new movement to
establish a world-wide unity and cooperation
along the lines of the so-called 'New Thought,'
that this gathering promises to be one of the
most important steps in the history of this re-
markable spiritual evolution.''

During the sessions of the convention a so-
ciety was organized, and named The Interna-

196 The New Thought Movement

tional Metaphysical League. The following oflS-
cers were elected: C. B. Patterson, president;
Col. Henry S. Tafft, vice-president; Warren A.
Rodman, secretary; Harry Gestefeld, assistant
secretary; Wm. E. Uptegrove, treasurer; and an
executive board of twelve representing six states.
Among the speakers were C. B. Patterson,
Henry Wood, Ursula N. Gestefeld, Dr. Lewis G.
Janes, Sarah J. Farmer, Bolton Hall, Paul Ty-
ner, Henry S. Tafft, Josephine C. Barton, Eg-
bert M. Chesley, Rev. R. Heber Newton, J. W,
Winkley, Horatio W. Dresser, Miss Ellen M,
Dyer, Ruth B. Bridges, Miss Anita Trueman,
and Miss Jane Yarnell. A paper by Mrs. M.
E. Cramer, the pioneer of Divine Science, Sail
Francisco, was also read. The addresses were
afterward gathered into a volxmie published by
the League. Some of these papers have been re-
published in The Spirit of the New Thought.

The International Metaphysical League held
its second convention in Madison Square Gar-
den Concert Hall, New York City, October 23-
26, 1900. The officers of the League were re-
elected, and an executive board drawn from ten
states, and vice-presidents from twenty-five
states, from England, Australia, and New Zea-
land, were elected. In its revised constitution
the following "purposes" were adopted: "The
Purpose of the League is: To establish imity

The First Conventions 197

and cooperation of thought and action among in-
dividuals and organizations throughout the world
devoted to the Science of Mind and of Being,
and to bring them, so far as possible, under one
name and organization; to promote interest in
and the practice of a true spiritual philosophy
of life; to develop the highest self -culture
through right thinking, as a means of bringing
one's loftiest ideals into present realization; to
stimulate faith in and the study of the highest
nature of man, in its relation to health, happiness,
and progress ; to teach the universal Fatherhood
and Motherhood of God and the all-inclusive
Brotherhood of Man ; that One Life is immanent
in the universe, and is both Centre and Circum-
ference of all things visible and invisible, and that
the Intelligence is above all and in all; and that
from this Infinite Life and Intelligence proceed
all Light, Love and Truth. These simple state-
ments are in their nature tentative, and imply no
limitations or boundaries to future progress and
growth, as larger measures of light and truth
shall be revealed."

These "simple statements" are rather ambi-
tious, and tend to cover a large territory in the
realms of thought. They lack the incisiveness
of earlier and later statements of the New
Thought, but the endeavor of course is to state
a widely inclusive ideal. This statement is, how-

198 The New Thought Movement

ever, referred to by New Thought leaders to
indicate that the above have always been the
characteristic purposes of the New Thought Al-
liance, which succeeded the League, at all the
conventions of the Alliance, and under its sev-
eral revisions of constitutions, and the change in
the name of the organization.

The program called attention to the high
character of the speakeriS, saying "It is a grand
tribute to the beauty and power of this philoso-
phy that it attracts the willing service of eminent
thinkers and truth-seekers." In addition to the
names appearing on the program of the first con-
vention were the following: Professor John
Tyler, Amherst College, John Brooks Leavitt,
M. D., B. O. Flower, R. W. Trine, Rev. Helen
Van-Anderson, Swami Abhedananda, lecturer
on the Vedanta philosophy, Annie Rix Militz,
Miss G. I. S. Andrews, and Aaron M. Crane.

No conventions were held in 1901, 1902. In
1903 an "International New Thought Conven-
tion" was held in Chicago, under the auspices of
the New Thought Federation of Chicago, in
Music Hall, Fine Arts Building. T. G. North-
rup was chairman, Agnes Chester See, vice-
chairman, F. D. Wetmore, secretary, and Anna
C. Waterloo, treasurer. The fourth annual
convention was held in St. Louis, under the aus-
pices of the New Thought Federation of St,

The First Conventions 199

Louis, October 25-28, 1904, Rev. R. Heber
Newton was elected president ; Ursula N. Geste-
f eld, vice-president ; Eugene Del Mar, secretary ;
John D. Perrin, assistant secretary; H. Bradley
Jeffrey, treasurer, and Bolton Hall, auditor.

The fifth annual convention was held in
Nevada, Mo., under the auspices of the Weltmer
School of Healing, September 26-29, 1905.
The ofiicers elected were: Henry Harrison
Brown, president; D. L. Sullivan, vice-presi-
dent; Ernest Weltmer, secretary; Charles Ed-
gar Prather, assistant secretary; Dr. J. W.
Winkley, treasurer, and Carl Gleeser, auditor.
At this convention the constitution was revised.
The name was changed to The World New
Thought Federation. Officers were elected for
a convention to be held in Chicago, in October,
1906, a convention which was not held. The last
three conventions had been less successful, inas«
much as it was not always easy to find common
ground among representatives of individualism
in the West and middle West.

In order to make a new beginning on a more
secure basis, a conference was held at the rooms
of the Metaphysical Club, in Boston, April 26,
1906. This meeting was called by C. B. Pat-
terson, Dr. J. W. Winkley and other leaders, the
object being to organize a society with the best
interests of the New Thought in view; in order

li

200 . The New Thought Movement

to promote the original purposes and plans of
the International Metaphysical League, special
reference being made to the federation of the
many New Thought Centres existing throughout
the country. The general desire was to put the
work in the country as a whole on a more effi-
cient basis.

A reorganization was effected, a constitution
adopted, and the following were elected officers :
Rev. R. Heber Newton, president; Dr. J. W.
Winkley, vice-president; Rev. W. J. Leonard,
secretary; R. C. Douglass, assistant secretary;
C. B. Patterson, treasurer; M. Woodbury Saw-
yer, auditor. The board of officers was composed
of those named above, also Ralph Waldo Trine,
Mrs. Harriet A. Sawyer, Mrs. Josephine Ver-
lage, Rev. M. K. Schermerhorn, Mrs. Sarah F.
Meader, Mrs. Louise Randall, Miss Anita True-
man, Rev. Helen Van- Anderson, Rev. T. Van
Doren, and Rev. Henry Frank. The constitu-
tion also provided for the formation of an ad-
visory committee, to share in the general man-
agement, to consist of a large number of repre-
sentative members in New Thought societies in
different parts of the country. From this reor-
ganization and readjustment the society entered
on a new career of. successful propagandism and
prosperity.

The seventh annual New Thought convention.

The Fiest Conventions 201

that is, the second meeting under the auspices of
the reorganized society, was held in Chickering
Hall, Boston, April 21-23, 1907. The officers
were Rev. R. Heber Newton, president; Dr. J.
W. Winkley, vice-president; Rev. Alfred H.
Brown, secretary; and C. B. Patterson, treas-
urer. At the first session Prof. Josiah Royce
and Dr. R. C. Cabot gave addresses. On the
afternoon of the second day all clergymen in Bos-
ton and vicinity were personally invited to at-
tend. The subject was "The Relation of the
Parochial Ministry to Spiritual Healing." The
chairman was Rev. Albert B. Shields, an Episco-
pal clergyman greatly interested in the subject
of healing.

The third convention of the reorganized so-
ciety was held in Boston, April 12-14, 1908.
The officers were. Rev. R. Heber Newton, presi-
dent; Dr. J. W. Winkley, first vice-president;
Rev. A. B. Shields, second vice-president; Rev.
Alfred H. Brown, secretary; R. C. Douglass^ as-
sistant secretary; Dr. Julia Seton Sears, asso-
ciate secretary; Miss Amelia H. Ames, treasurer;
and Rev. DeWitt T. Van Doren, auditor. The
election of clergymen not actively connected with
the New-Thought movement but interested in
healing was still customary at these conventions.
It seemed desirable at that time to have officers
of prominence in public life. The work of the

202 The New Thought Movement

society was of course mainly carried on by the
assistant secretary.

At this convention the constitution was re-
vised, and the name of the organization changed,
to indicate its scope. This new name. The Na-
tional New Thought Alliance, was retained un-
til, with its work abroad in 1914, it became The
International New Thought Alliance.

The fourth convention, now -styled The Na-
tional New Thought Alliance, was held in Chick-
ering Hall, Boston, May 7-9, 1909. The list of
officers, as chosen in the previous convention is
as follows: Rev. Henry Frank, president;
James A. Edgerton, vice-president; R. C. Doug-
less, secretary; Dr. Julia Seton Sears, associate
secretary ; Amelia H. Ames, treasurer ; and Rev.
De Witt T. Van Doren, auditor. At this con-
vention James A. Edgerton was elected presi-
dent, an office which he has held in the succeed-
ing years, including the year of incorporation,
1917. Rev. Stephen H. Roblin was elected first
vice-president; Rev. De Witt T. Van Doren,
2nd vice-president; Dr. J. W. Winkley, 8d vice-
president; C. B. Patterson, 4th vice-president;
R. C. Douglass, secretary; Amelia H. Ames,
treasurer; and J. W. Pryde, auditor.

A summer convention at the New Thought
Chautauqua and Rest Home, at Oscawana, N.
Y., was held August 6-8, 1909. This conven-

The Fiest Conventions 208

tion combined the pleasures of a summer outing
with the discussion of subjects pertaining to the
New Thought. It was hoped that Oscawana
would come to take the place of the New
Thought conferences begun at Greenacre, Eliot,
Maine. Oscawana lacked the prestige and at-
mosphere, however, of Greenacre, and the ex-
pectations were not realized.

The tenth annual convention, the fifth since
the reorgajiization, was held in Carnegie Ly-
ceum, New York City, May 13-15, 1910. The
same officers were elected, with the addition of
Dr. Ellis B. Guild, who was elected associate
secretary. Shortly after this convention an-
other was held in Cincinnati, O., May 29-81, in
association with the New Thought Temple, at the
request of that society. Mr. Harry Gaze was
chairman. The speakers were: Harry Gaze,
Rev. Henry Frank, Dr. Julia Seton Sears, Dr.
Anna B. Davis, Dr. A. J. Mclvor Tindall, R.
C. Douglass, C. B. Patterson, Mrs. Mildred
Gaze, Dr. C. O. Sahler, Rev. Paul Castle, A. P.
Barton, and Ernest Weltmer. This convention
brought together, besides people interested in the
New Thought in that vicinity, representatives
of the movement from the Middle West.

The eleventh annual convention, the sixth since
the reorganization, was held during eight days
at Omaha, Nebraska, beginning June 18, 1911.

204 The New Thought Movement

Among the speakers were: Mr. Alfred Tom-
son, local secretary; A. P. Barton, John Milton
Scott, Annie Rix Militz, Grace M. Brown, Rev,
Henry Frank, R, C. Douglass, J. A. Edgerton,
and Mrs. C. E. C. Norris. At this convention
there was added a new feature. The Convention
School. There were eight classes teaching some
phase of the New Thought, the subjects and
speakers being as follows: "God in Man," J.
A. Edgerton; "Practical Metaphysics," Grace
M. Brown; "Psychical Secrets," Rev. Henry
Frank; "The Way Unto the Perfect," Annie
Rix Militz; "The Evolution of Christ in Con-
sciousness," R. C. Douglass; "Masters of Your-
self and Your World," Mrs. C. E. C. Norris;
"Symbol Psychology," John Milton Scott; "Un-
folding Individuality," A. P. Barton.

The convention of 1912 was held in Los
Angeles. Mr. Douglass, in sending out the call
for this convention, stated that all New Thought
societies were cordially invited to send delegates,
pointing out that the invitation applied to all
bodies holding similar views, "though they may
not adopt the same name. . . . This is the first
time that the East and the West come together in
a mutual understanding and fellowship, for a
larger and more aggressive propagandism ; and
marked results are looked for."

The meetings of the convention began June

The First Contentions 205

25 and continued until June 30. The subjects
for the chief sessions were, The Divine Man,
The Resurrecting Power, Unity, Joy and
Beauty, Peace ; and the speakers included Myra
G. Frenyear, William Farwell, Harriet Hale
Rix, Alfred Tomson, Harry Gaze, Clinton A.
Billig, Henry Frank, Mrs. M. E. T. Chapin,
C. Josephine Barton, Anna W. Mills, James
Porter Mills, A. P. Barton, and Henry Victor
Morgan. There were also six-day courses of
lessons known as the "Convention at School,''
conducted by Mrs. Militz, Harriet Hale Rix,
Dr. F. Homer Curtiss, Perry Joseph Green,
Ida B. EUioo, Jennie M. Croft, Harry Gaze,
Sarah J. Watkins, L. A. Fealy, and others.
Mrs. Militz has said of this convention, "All ex-
ploitation of personalities and special centres was
kept out as much as possible. Self-advertise-
ment was not encouraged and the commercial
spirit kept wholly in abeyance, yet opportunity
was given to acquaint the strangers with the per-
sons and places, the literature and the methods
that could help them into the light. . . . No
greater refutation of the accusation of some
ignorant church people that the New Thought
is anti-Christ could have been recorded than the
addresses of almost all the speakers of this con-
vention. I cannot think of one who did not
somewhere along in his address speak lovingly,

206 The New Thought Movement

i-

reverently and deeply of the Blessed One. There
was no cant, no mere Up-phrasing of hackneyed
sentences, but such speech as His early lovers
might have phrased, before a priest-ridden
church had formulated a creed and a ceremonial
in His name." ^

The eighth annual convention was held in De-
troit, Mich., June 15-22, 1913. The ninth con-
gress, held in New York City, June 7, 8, 1914,
was a preliminary conference, looking forward
to the first international convention in Great
Britain, held in London, June 21-26, under the
auspices of the Higher Thought Centre, and the
National New Thought Alliance. At the con-
vention in London the speakers from America
included such leaders as Miss Harriet Hale Rix,
Miss Emma C. Poore, Mrs. Chapin, Mrs. Annie
Rix Militz, Mr. J. A. Edgerton and Mr. Harry
Gaze. M. F. A. Mann represented the Ligue
Internationale de la Nouvelle Pensee, and Miss
Helen Boulnois, La Societe Unitive, Paris.
The British representatives included J. Blruce
Wallace, Judge T. Troward, vice-president for
the British Isles, Charles Spencer, J. Macbeth
Bain, Miss Louise Stacey, and Miss Dorothy
Kerin. At a session dedicated to "the promo-
tion of peace," plans for the International New
Thought Congress for 1915, to be held at the

1 The Master Mind, Aug., 1919.

The First Conventions 207

Panama Pacific Exposition, San Francisco,
were brought before the convention. The
speaker was Miss Grace Wilson, delegate of Cal-
ifornia 1915 Congress Committee. The Na-
tional New Thought Alliance now became "in-
ternationaF' in actuality, and entered upon its
larger career under the best auspices. The con-
vention as a whole was highly successful and its
success marked an important milestone in the
history of the Alliance. Delegates were pres-
ent from Australia, South Africa, France, Scot-
land, and a considerable number from the United
States. Mrs. Militz preceded the congress by a
tour around the world, speaking for the Alliance
on the way and arousing interest in it. The con-
gress in London was followed by a conference in
Edinburgh, Scotland. With the sessions in New
York, London, and Edinburgh, then, the Al-
liance realized the ideals of the various societies
in the mental-healing world which had been inter-
national only in name.^

iThe work of reorganizing the conventions and developing the
New Thought Alliance, in 1903, was largely accomplished by
Eugene Del Mar, chairman of the Committee on Organization, and
active leader in the St Louis convention.

X

THE INTERNATIONAL NEW THOUGHT ALLIANCE

The convention held at San Francisco, in con-
nection with the Panama-Pacific International
Exposition, 1915, was called The First Interna-
tional New Thought Congress. It began Au-
gust 30, and continued until September 5, with
three sessions daily and noon healing meetings.
The meeting place was Moose Auditorium,
Jones St., near Golden Gate Ave. The con-
vention was preceded by New Thought Day,
August 28, at the Panama-Pacific Exposition.
The program for that day was as follows : As-
sembling of all New Thought people at Fillmore
St. entrance, to be escorted by officials and band
to the Court of Abundance, to receive commem-
orative bronze medal; Science and Demonstra-
tion of Mind Reading by The EUises, Pompeiian
Room, Inside Inn ; banquet-lunch at Inside Inn ;
music and reading, Recital Hall; interpretation
of Dante's La Divina Comedian Rev. Lucy C.
McGee; choral and organ recital, Mr. A. L. Ar-
tigues. Festival Hall.

At the opening session of the convention, Au-
gust 80, Henry Harrison Brown was chairman,

208

New Thought Alliance 209

and the speakers were: Rev. Lucy C. McGee,
Boston, "The Divine Adventure"; Mrs. F. J.
Nellis, London, "Philosophy, Ancient and Mod-
ern"; Mrs. R. G. Peaseley, Los Angeles, Cal.;
and Dr. Theresa Stockman, New York City.
In the afternoon Mrs. Agnes Lawson presided,
and in the evening Annie Rix Militz, president
of the California New Thought Exposition Com-
mittee. There were addresses of welcome by
James Ralph, Jr., mayor of San Francisco; H.
K. Bassett, Panama-Pacific Exposition; James
D. Barry, San Francisco Bulletin; Grant Wal-
lace, chairman of the convention news bureau ; and
responses on the part of the New Thought by Mr.
Edgerton, Dr. Julia Seton, and Harry Gaze.
The address of the evening was by George
Wharton James, "California, the Natural Home
of the New Thought." At the succeeding ses-
sions of the convention there were addresses by
Miss Julia M. Cook, Miss C. Fraser, Mrs. M. J.
Merrill, Miss Lida M. Churchill, Mrs. A. H.
Simpson, Harold Palmer, L. J. Fealy, Eliza-
beth Towne, Annie Rix Militz, William C. Gib-
bons, Mrs. M. W. Sewall, Mrs. C. E. Cumbert-
son, John Milton Scott, P. J. Green, Florence
Crawford, R. C. Douglass, Mrs. M. E. T.
Chapin, Harry Gaze, Dr. C. F. Winbigler, Mrs.
Anna W. Mills, Harriet Hale Rix, Mrs. Grace
Brown, J. Stitt Wilson, Miss Harriet Hulick,

210 The New Thought Movement

and others. Different leaders were chosen to
conduct the noon healing sessions, to give the
closing affirmations, and to preside at the va-
rious discussions. The business meeting of the
Alliance was held Friday, September 3. The
morning session, September 4, was devoted to a
children's festival, with a lunch-party and games
from 1 o'clock to 4. The session Saturday after-
noon was for parents, teachers and others inter-
ested in child development, with Harriet Hale
Rix presiding. There were ten-minute ad-
dresses on child welfare, physical, mental, moral
and spiritual. At 4 p. m. there was a session de-
voted to Sunday-school work, the speakers being
Miss Blanche Ayles, Mrs. McQuesten, Mrs. Lin-
tine Skinner, Miss Ethel Brown, Miss Josephine
Hopkins, and Miss Wiebach. The theme for
the last day, Sunday, September 5, was "Spir-
ituality," and the speakers included William Far-
well, Mrs. E. N. Randall, Mrs. Frenyear- Wise-
man, F. L. Sears, James A. Edgerton and Dr.
Julia Seton.

The officers of the Alliance were : President,
James A. Edgerton; vice-presidents, for Amer-
ica, Annie Rix Militz; for Great Britain, Hon.
T. Troward; for France, Mons. G. A. Mann;
secretary, Harry Gaze; assistant secretaries, for
England, Alice M. Callow; for Scotland, Mrs.
H. R. Wallace; for America, Grace Wilson;

New Thought Alliance ' 211

treasurer, L. W. Blinn; auditor, R. C. Doug-
lass; executive committee for United States, Mrs.
M. E. T. Chapin, Miss Leila Simon, Miss Villa
Faulkner Page; executive committee for Great
Britain, J. Bruce Wallace, Mrs. H. Heard, and
Miss Muriel Brown. Mrs. Militz was president
of the California New Thought Exposition Com-
mittee, and the committee included representa-
tives of the various Homes of Truth and New
Thought Centres throughout California.

In the constitution and by-laws as published
by the Alliance in 1916 the purposes of the so-
ciety are given as follows: "To teach the infini-
tude of the Supreme One; the Divinity of Man
and his Infinite possibilities through the creative
power of constructive thinking and obedience to
the voice of the Indwelling Presence, which is
our som^ce of Inspiration, Power, Health and
Prosperity.'' The articles of the constitution
make the customary provisions and include the
recall, the latter to be indicated by a written
petition signed by twenty per cent of the mem-
bers. The executive board, besides having
charge of all the business activities of the Al-
liance, is to arrange for holding local confer-
ences, organizing groups and societies for the
propagation of the purposes of the Alliance, and
the affiliation of societies already existing, also
the publication of literature. Any person in

212 The New Thought Movement

sympathy with the purposes of the Alliance may
become an active member on payment of the an-
nual dues of one dollar, or a sustaining member
on payment of annual dues of ten dollars. The
fee for life membership is one hundred dollars.
Any group, society, association or organization
in sympathy with the purposes of the Alliance
is entitled to register as a group member, regard-
less of the number belonging to the group, on
payment of ten dollars or a voluntary offering.

The second international congress was held in
St. Louis, September 17-24, 1916. The speak-
ers included Sarah C. Morse, Leila Simon, Lil-
ian Whiting, Harriet C. Hulick, Anne Young-
Himtress, Dr. Sheldon Leavitt, T. J. Shelton,
Dr. G. C. B. Ewell, Elizabeth Towne, W. W.
Atkinson, R. C. Douglass, Harry Gaze, J. A.
Edgerton, Dr. Julia Seton, Emma C. Poore,
Charles O. Boring, and Sidney A. Weltmer.

The executive board consisted of the presi-
dent, secretary, treasurer, auditor, and Mrs. Cha-
pin. Miss Emma Gray, John M. McGonigle, and
Mrs. Rose M. Ashby. The honorary presidents
were, W. W. Atkinson, H. H. Benson, T. P,
Boyd, H. H. Brown, Clara B. Colby, Florence
Crawford, Horatio W. Dresser, George Whar-
ton James, Edgar L. Larkin, C. D. Larson, Ori-
son Swett Marden, Edwin Markham, Annie Rix
Militz, C. B. Patterson, C. E. Prather, May

New Thought Alliance 213

Wright SewaU, Elizabeth Towne, WiUiam E.
Towne, Ralph Waldo Trine, Lilian Whiting,
and Ella Wheeler Wilcox. Vice-presidents
were elected for each district. Dr. Harold F.
Palmer, Southern Calif ornia- Arizona ; Harriet
Hale Rix, Northern California-Nevada; Mrs.
Anne Young-Huntress, Oregon ; Rev. Granville
Lowther, Washington-Idaho-Montana ; Mrs.
Grace M. Brown, Colorado-Utah-Wyoming-
New Mexico; Vernon Hendry, Kansas-Okla-
homa; Rev. H. W. Pinkard, Nebraska-Iowa;
Miss H. C. Hulick, Missouri-Kansas-Texas;
Mrs. S. C. Morse, Illinois-Wisconsin; Mrs. Rose
M. Ashby, Georgia-Florida-No. and So. Caro-
lina; Miss Leila Simon, Ohio-Indiana-W. Vir-
ginia; Mrs. A. W. King, Michigan; Mrs. A. H.
Ray, Minnesota-No. and So. Dakota; John M.
McGonigle, Pennsylvania; Dr. Julia Seton,
New York-New Jersey; Mrs. M. E. T. Chapin,
New England; Miss Emma Gray, District of
Columbia-Maryland-Delaware-Virginia ; Mrs.
R. D. Allen, Kentucky-Tennessee; Judge T.
Troward, England; Rev. J. Bruce Wallace, Ire-
land; Mrs. H. Rhodes-Wallace, Scotland; M.
Georges A. Mann, France ; Sister Veni Cooper-
Mathison, New South Wales; Miss Grace
Aguilar, South Australia; Miss Emile A. Hu-
lett, Victoria ; Georgina Hooper de Hammerton,
South America; Dr. T. W. Butler, West Can-

214 The New Thought Movement

ada; Mrs. M. M. Hunter- Jones, Eastern Can-
ada.

The third congress was held in Planters Hotel,
St. Louis, September 16-28, 1917. Among the
speakers were, Charles F. Hatfield, W. John
MiuTay, W. V. Nicimi, Harold Palmer, James
A. Edgerton, Dr. Julia Seton, J. P. Green, Mrs.
Rose M. Ashby, Mrs. M. E. T. Chapin, Miss H.
E. Hulick, W. Frederick Keeler, Elizabeth
Towne, H. H. Schroeder, R. C. Douglass, Sarah
C. Morse, T. J. Shelton, and Helen Van-And-
erson-Gordon. A feature of the convention was
a "New Speakers' Day." Addresses were made
by Mary L. S. Butterworth, W. J. Holt, Ida
Jane Ayres, Mida Sharp, Robert Whitaker,
Juno Walton, E. C. Hartman, and Eleanor C.
Graham. Saturday afternoon, September 22,
there was a Children's Session, with a half hour
of songs by pupils of the Society of Practical
Christianity, St. Louis, and a special program
following. A "Question Box Session" came
Saturday evening. The convention closed with
a grand rally of the Alliance, Sunday evening.

At this convention the following Declaration
of Principles was adopted, as the point of view
and program of activities of The International
New Thought Alliance:

"We affirm the freedom of each soul as to
choice and as to belief, and would not, by the

New Thought Alliance 215

adoption of any declaration of principles, limit
such freedom. The essence of the New Thought
is Truth, and each individual must be loyal to
the Truth he sees. The windows of his soul must
be kept open at each moment for the higher
light, and his mind must be always hospitable to
each new inspiration.

"We affirm the Good. This is supreme, uni-
versal and everlasting. Man is made in the
image of the Good, and evil and pain are but
the tests and correctives that appear when his
thought does not reflect the full glory of this
image.

"We affirm health, which is man's divine in-
heritance. Man's body is his holy temple. Ev-
ery function of it, every cell of it, is intelligent,
and is shaped, ruled, repaired, and controlled by
mind. He whose body is full of light is full of
health. Spiritual healing has existed among all
races in all times. It has now become a part
of the higher science and art of living the life
more abundant.

"We affirm the divine supply. He who serves
God and man in the full imderstanding of the
law of compensation shall not lack. Within us
are unused resources of energy and power. He
who lives with his whole being, and thus ex-
presses fullness, shall reap fullness in return.
He who gives himself, he who knows, and acts

216 The New Thought Movement

in his highest knowledge, he who trusts in the
divine return, has learned the law of success.

"We affirm the teaching of Christ that the
Kingdom of Heaven is within us, that we are
one with the Father, that we should judge not,
that we should love one another, that we should
heal the sick, that we should return good for
evil, that we should minister to others, and that
we should be perfect even as our Father in
Heaven is perfect. These are not only ideals,
but practical, everyday working principles.

"We affirm the new thought of God as Uni-
versal Love, Life, Truth and Joy, in whom we
live, move and have our being, and by whom we
are held together; that His mind is our mind
now, that realizing our oneness with Him means
love, truth, peace, health and plenty, not only
in our own lives but in the giving out of these
fruits of the Spirit to others.

"We affirm these things, not as a profession,
but practice, not on one day of the week, but in
every hour and minute of every day, sleeping and
waking, not in the ministry of a few, but in a
service that includes the democracy of all, not in
words alone, but in the innermost thoughts of the
heart expressed in living the life. *By their
fruits ye shall know them.'

"We affirm Heaven here and now, the life
everlasting that becomes conscious immortality,

IL

New Thought Alliance 217

the communion of mind with mind throughout
the universe of thought, the nothingness of all
error and negation, including death, the variety
in unity that produces the individual expressions
of the One-Life, and the quickened realization
of the indwelling God in each soul that is mak-
ing a new heaven and a new earth."

The fourth congress was held in Boston, Sep-
tember 15-22, 1918. The officers at that time
were James A. Edgerton, president; Leona
Feathers, secretary; William E. Hutton, treas-
urer; and R. C. Douglass, auditor. Additional
names among the list of honorary presidents
were Alice M. Callow, Emma Ciu'tis Hopkins,
Veni Cooper-Mathison, and T. J. Shelton.
Other names were also added to the list of vice-
presidents representing districts as follows:
Miss Florence A. Sullenberg, Oregon; Judge
W. R. Gay, Washington; Rev. H. H. Schroeder,
Missouri; Gen. J. Kellog, Arkansas; Dr. Anna
Gaines, Texas; Mrs. Augusta Prindle, Wiscon-
sin; W. V. Nicum, Ohio- West Virginia; G. W.
Maxwell, Indiana ; Rev. W. John Murray, New
York-New Jersey; Mrs. E. J. Graham, Lou-
isana- Alabama-Mississippi ; Mrs. S. P. Anthony,
Kentucky-Tennessee; Mrs. Luis Leal, Mexico;
Mme. Florence Struve, France; Miss Eunice
Jones, South Australia; Mrs. Preshaw, Western
Australia; W. Walker, New Zealand; Will-

218 The New Thought Movement

oughby Connor, Tasmania; Mrs. M. Moncrief,
Hawaiian Islands; and Dr. J. Seetulsingh, West
Indies.

The various sessions were as usual under the
chairmanship of such leaders as James A. Edger-
ton, Mrs. Chapin, R. C. Douglass, Elizabeth
Towne, Harold Palmer, Leila Simon, and Annie
Rix Militz. Among the speakers were Mrs.
Chapin, Mr. Edgerton, Harold Palmer, Helen
Van- Anderson-Gordon, J. M. McGonigle, Eliz-
abeth Towne, Sarah C. Morse, Dr. Ewell, Mrs.
C. E. C. Norris, T. J. Shelton, Emma C. Poore,
Rose M. Ashby, Villa Faulkner Page, Sarah F.
Meader, Harry Gaze and Miss Edith Martin.
A session was devoted to questions, and the clos-
ing session was a grand rally in Faneuil Hall,
with addresses by Mayor Peters and representa-
tives of the army and navy.

The annual address of the president, Mr.
James A. Edgerton, from which we quote in
part, gave a comprehensive summary of the re-
cent growth and development of the New
Thought in various parts of the world. Mr. Ed-
gerton expressed the conviction that the devotees
of the New Thought, among "all good Ameri-
cans and all good citizens of other allied coun-
tries," believed that the winning of the war was
the great need of the time, and that aU other
activities, even spiritual activities, should tern-

New Thought Alliance 219

porarily be subordinated to this great purpose.
Nevertheless, he was able to report that the Al-
liance had steadily grown, with the addition of
hundreds of members and many new groups.
He also reported that there was more money in
the treasury, and without any special effort to
procure it.

Among other new Centres, Mr. Edgerton
mentioned those established at Des Moines, Iowa ;
Wilmington, Delaware; Portsmouth, Va., and
several on the Pacific Coast. "In Australia,"
Mr. Edgerton said, "our work has been prac-
tically at a standstill because of the war, but all
the centres are still active. In this connection,
our good friends in Australia say they owe very
much of their interest in the new philosophy to
the visits of two American New Thought teach-
ers, Mrs. Annie Rix Militz and Dr. Julia Seton.
Indeed, in all parts of the world this new phi-
losophy is traced to America. In England,
whereas in the political field we call her the
Mother Country, in the spiritual field the Eng-
lish schools of New Thought call America the
Mother Country, and look to us to lead the way.

"In France the work has been carried on by
Madame Florence Struve in Paris, who has
worked mostly with the soldiers. Another
leader in Paris, M. Albert Caillet, is here in
America now with a French Government Com-

220 The New Thought Movement

mission and has promised that at some time dur-
ing the week he may appear at this Congress.

"In Great Britain, all of the centres are active,
but the greatest centre there, at Isleworth, the
old home of the Duke of Manchester, where the
workjwas carried on by Dr. Orlando E. Miller,
has been turned over to war work and the nurs-
ing of the soldiers; and Dr. Miller is carrying on
his work in London.

"In this connection some of our American
New Thought teachers are on the other side, as-
sisting as they may in the Y. M. C. A. work.
Red Cross work and other similar activities.
Horatio W. Dresser of Boston, from whom we
have an inspiring letter, is now in France in Y.
M. C. A. work and Rev. W. John Murray of
New York is in Italy in Red Cross work.

"Our field secretaries have been busy. Miss
Mary Allen of New York has made two trips
across the continent and back, making numerous
addresses on the way — starting at the Atlantic
and going to the Pacific Coast. Three of our
field secretaries were at the beginning of the year
on the Pacific Coast. One has since gone on
with his own work. Another in the State of
Georgia was called on by the Government to
take up work in connection with the Food Ad-
ministration and while travelling over the State
he takes occasion to teach the Truth.

New Thought Alliance 221

"In New England we have had several con-
ferences in Boston and at various points under
Mrs. Chapin, who is not only vice-president, but
field secretary-at-large, and has been most ac-
tive. In Philadelphia we have had a most flour-
ishing year'. I was called there to give an ad-
dress in one of the largest rooms in the Bellevue-
Stratford, and people were standing out in the
hallways. This was very promising and encour-
aging for the reason that we had not previously
had a New Thought work in Philadelphia. Re-
cently Mrs. Butterworth organized a new cen-
tre in the suburbs of Philadelphia and I believe
a new centre in New Jersey.

"We have had field conferences leading up to
this congress in many districts. One of the larg-
est was held in the Waldorf-Astoria in the city
of New York under the leadership of Rev. W.
John Murray, our vice-president, and the League
for the Larger Life, which is a federation of cen-
tres in that city.

"We had a very successful conference in
Washington, D. C.,.and two in Ohio; in Dayton
and Cincinnati, where there is one of the most
flourishing centres in the world. We had a con-
ference in Seattle, Washington, under Judge
Gay, another one in San Francisco, and a con-
ference that was not strictly under the auspices
of the Alliance in Los Angeles imder Mr.

222 The New Thought Movement

Holmes, one of the Holmes Brothers of that city,
who are doing a splendid work, and one of whom
will be in this city to address the congress. An-
other conference is being held in Los Angeles
this week mider the direction of the vice-presi-
dent. Miss Harriet Hale Rix.

"Following this congress, one will be held in
London under the auspices of the Alliance, as
was the case last year. They cabled us at that
time that it was very much larger and better
than they had expected — and I have no doubt
it will be still greater this year. . . .

"This in a word gives you some idea of the
work the Alliance has been carrying on in a
quiet way. As for our future plans, I can say
but this: that now, in my opinion, is the time,
above all others, for every one in this movement,
or any other kindred movement, who feels called,
to prepare himself, or herself, to carry this mes-
sage of reconstruction, of optimism, this message
which is the very soul of democracy — to carry
this message to Europe where we can aid not
only in the physical work of reconstruction, but
in the mental work of reconstruction, which is of
far greater importance. While the war is still
on we can prepare. Mrs. Militz, who has trav-
elled from one side of this country to the other
holding classes, has been devoted to this single
purpose — of preparing teachers who could go

New Thought Alliance 228

out into the world and, following the Master's
injunction, preach the gospel to every creature.
She already has a school at Los Angeles, called
the University of Christ, and this work she has
been doing about the country is simply an ex-
tension of the work in her school. Her exam-
ple can be followed by others. In this connec-
tion, let me say that a great nimiber of our cen-
tres throughout the country have made a special
point this year of working with the soldiers, not
only of inviting soldiers to the centres, but of
going out to the camps, in collaborating with the
Y. M. C. A., and carrying the message and ren-
dering service in such ways as presented them-
selves. I cannot too strongly urge upon you the
importance of extending that work in every pos-
sible way.

"This New Thought gospel is not new in the
sense that it is radically different from the things
that have been taught heretofore. It is only
new, as I see it, in the application. In other
words, we in this age are practical, and especially
so in America. We do not much regard any-
thing that cannot be applied and demonstrated.
This is not in any sense a denial of idealism —
quite the contrary, but it puts idealism to the
test. If it is of worlii, it can be used. If we
believe anything we can apply to that thing the
acid test of practice, and, if it does not prove

224 The New Thought Movement

up, it is not a thing on which we can waste our
time.

"Truths taught by the Master have been
preached all through the ages, and believed — ^at
least in a sense. But they were not believed
enough to put them to the acid test of demon-
stration, of application. All that the New
Thought movement and other kindred move-
ments have done in this day is to work at our
faith. We have had the faith before. We have
had the ideal. Throughout all these ages the
splendid example shown by those who were of
the bone, blood and sinew of the Church has
proved that they believed, for they gave them-
selves to the uttermost, as willing sacrifices.
They permitted themselves to be fed to the wild
beasts and to be burned as living torches in the
name of their blessed Master. They did not lack
in faith ; they only lacked in the adaptation.

"Looking at the world as it is today, it grows
ever plainer to us that Christianity has not failed
— real Christianity, but that people have failed
to be Christians. I use the term ^Christian' as
one who is a follower of the Christ. He com-
manded that we should heal the sick, but we have
not healed the sick for nineteen hundred years;
and, when a cult arose in our ovm time, who be-
gan practising this. His most oft-repeated com-
mandment, they were placed beyond the pale of

New Thought Alliance 225

the Church. He commanded us not to lay up
for ourselves treasures upon earth, yet in this
age and in the lands called by His name, we have
the most colossal fortunes the world has ever
known. He commanded us not to pray in pub-
lic to be heard of men, but to pray to the Father
in secret, and yet the sects continue to pray to
be heard of men. He commanded us to avoid
lip service. He said unto those who call Lord,
Lord, that he would not know them. He fixed
this standard as the mark of His followers : those
who kept His commandments. Yet we have
called Lord, Lord, throughout the ages and have
not kept His commandments. A house divided
against itself cannot stand. We Christians
must become all for Christ or all for anti-Christ.
For nineteen hundred years we have temporized
between the two until anti-Christ arose and smote
us in this present world-tragedy.

"I do not say these things in the way of criti-
cism. I say them because they appear the pro-
found truth. We have learned in this age that
we get what we give, that there is no power over
us that rules us to ends other than those we have
shaped; that the things that have come into the
world, that have manifested, are the results of
the thoughts of the people in the world. This
world war is the result of years and even cen-
turies of fear, hatred, race antagonism and like

226 The New Thought Movement

negative things that people have held in their
thoughts ; and we shall have to work out of these
things by changing our thoughts. There will be
a new heaven and a new earth whenever there is a
new thought of heaven and earth in the minds of
men, and not before. That is the reason for the
New Thought movement.

"I am asked often: What is the relation of
this movement to the Church? What is its re-
lation to the other new movements of the day?
I am going to answer these questions as far as I
may with utter frankness.

"This is not a new religion. It is not an in-
stitution seeking to build itself up for the mere
sake of the institution. We do not ask anybody
to leave the Church — far from it. We have
members of the Alliance, of the New Thought
centres, that are members of churches and of no
church. We ask them to become better mem-
bers of their churches than before. The New
Thought is designed to make people better and
more efficient in whatever relation of life they
may find themselves — if a man is a teacher, a
soldier, or an accountant, to make him a better
teacher, soldier, or accountant. It teaches him
to depend upon his own inner powers. In his
domestic relations, it makes him kindlier. If
he is an American, it renders him a better Amer-
ican. It teaches him to fulfill the place he is

New Thought Alliance 227

given (whatever that place may be) to the ut-
most of his powers and without fear, knowing
that he has nothing of which to be afraid and
that within him are untapped levels of energy
upon which he may call. In other words:
*New Thought teaches men and women only the
old common-sense doctrine of self-reliance, and
belief in the integrity of the universe and of one's
own soul. It dignifies and ennobles manhood
and womanhood/

"But the main idea on which Christianity was
founded is that of communion with God, that of
worshipping God in spirit and in Truth. This
is the very cornerstone of these modern move-
ments that recognize men and women as the liv-
ing temples of the God within. This thought
has triumphed over all the centuries and over all
the mistakes of the followers of the Nazarene —
those who have called themselves by His name
— until the Christian faith is the greatest upon
the earth. And I predict that this new inter-
pretation and new understanding will become
imiversal in the new age that is now dawning;
for, after all, as I see it, the New Thought is
but the Christ Thought — ^without forms or cere-
monies, without any appeal to religious preju-
dice or to tradition, but in the common-sense
way of every-day living and application. It is
the realization in practical affairs of the teach-

228. The New Thought Movement

ings not only of the Nazarene, but of every other
great religious teacher since the world began;
for in their essence these teachings are funda-
mentally alike ; and the New Thought and other
new spiritual movements are but the efforts to
apply, in our relations one with another, these
simple and sublime truths. . . .

"Do not neglect the spiritual message that is
coming to men everywhere. Woe be it to him
that receives and does not heed. I am a busy
man, as you have been told, but I have never
been so busy that I could not find some time to
devote to this work of my soul, work that my
soul was called upon to do. Suppose Paul had
neglected the heavenly vision — what a diflference
there would have been in civilization. Suppose
Peter had turned back from Rome — think what
that would have meant to all the western nations
from that day to this 1 You cannot measure the
possible eflfect of your failure to heed the still
small voice. You do not know what seed you
may sow, what work of reconstruction you can
carry on. So my message to you tonight is very
simple ; it is this :

"The call is upon us, especially upon us, to
carry forth Christ's message to all peoples every-
where — one of us in one way and one in an-
other, but to each of us in the way for which he
or she is best fitted. There could be no nobler

New Thought Alliance 229

work in the world; there could be no work that
would more appeal to the highest and best in us.
There could be no work more fruitful in spiritual
blessing and in happiness here and now and al-
ways. Are we ready? This war will not last
always. I am not one of those who prophesy
when it will end — I do not know. I think it will
end when the forces of democracy get enough
men to the front to end it. That may be next
year, it may be later. I am only sure of one
thing, and I am as sure of that as I am that
there is a quick intelligence and a benevolent in-
telligence over all the affairs of men — I am sure
it will end right. The world has seen dark days
since the dawning of time, but it has never seen
any great struggle in which onoral principles
were involved that right did not ultimately
triumph, and right will ultimately trimnph now
and in all the affairs of men. I am sin'e of one
other thing — that the general broad principles
taught by Jesus of Nazareth, which have become
the foundation of our civilization, are the corner-
stone of democracy, good government, humani-
tarianism and of all the things for which we
stand — I am sure that these principles will
triumph over all lands, and it is for you and me,
my friends, to assist in their triiraiph. When
this war is over, people will bring this new truth,
which is the old truth of the Nazarene, to Eng-

280 The New Thought Movement

land, to France, to Belgium, to assist not alone
in preaching — that is a small part of it (Jesus
spent very little time preaching — He spent most
of His time doing good). But to heal, to re-
construct, to spread the message of brotherhood
— to teach the Truth.

"I expect a response from Boston, which is the
birthplace of this movement and other move-
ments of kindred character. I expect that the
people of Boston will lead in this work and thai
the International Alliance will take practical
steps towards this goal that will not end in mere
talk. I am not seeking to be eloquent tonight,
but I am seeking to bring home to you the neces-
sity, the crying necessity, when this war is over,
to send our missionaries to every country and to
start centres in all the world — to take the message
to every land under the sun, to help the recon-
struction and healing of the nations, to bring in
the new age of which we have preached — the
founding of God's kingdom on earth.''

^■f

XI

OTHER ORGANIZATIONS

The development of the mental-healing move-
ment in the early years was largely due to the
teaching of various leaders whose students in
turn became leaders, many of them founders of
diflferent phases of the movement in the East, the
Middle West and far West. Thus, as already
indicated, the instruction given by Mrs. Stuart of
Hyde Park, Mass., led to pioneer work in Hart-
ford and New York. In the same way Mrs.
Emma Curtis Hopkins became a teacher of lead-
ers in Chicago and San Francisco. Among the
latter may be mentioned Charles and Myrtle
Fillmore, who established the branch of the move-
ment known as Practical Christianity, published
Thought, now called Umty, llVee Wisdom's
Way, the first mental-healing magazine for chil-
dren, and founded other departments of the work
of The Society of Silent Unity, Kansas City;
Charles A. and Josephine Barton, editors of The
Life, Kansas City; T. J. Shelton, editor of
Scientific Christian; Helen Wilmans, editor of
Wilman's Express and author of The Blossom of
the Century and other volumes; and Ella

231

282 The New Thought Movement

Wheeler Wilcox, the well known New-Thought
writer. Another of Mrs. Hopkins' students was
Mr. Paul Militz, who with Mr. Shelton, was the
first to teach Mrs. Elizabeth Towne, editor of
Nautilus, Holyoke, Mass., and author of many
excellent books on the New Thought. Still an-
other was Miss Annie E. Rix, who later became
Mrs. Militz, in turn one of the leaders of the
movement on the Pacific Coast.

The history of the movement in California
lates from 1887, when Mrs. Hopkins, formerly
one of Mrs. Eddy's students, went to San Fran-
cisco at the request of interested people and
taught a class of 250 people, including Mrs.
Sadie Gorie, Miss Harriet Hale Rix, and Mrs.
Militz, then Miss Rix.^ The name for mental
healing employed at first was Christian Science,
but the fitrst society was known as The Pacific
Coast Metaphysical Bureau, later called the
Christian Science Home, then the Home of
Truth, the name which has been retained for
mental-healing centres on the Pacific coast. The
Home of Truth in Alameda was established in
1898. Later, similar centres were opened in
Los Angeles, San Diego, Oakland, San Jose,
Sacramento, Berkeley, and Sierra Madre, Cali-

iThe first book was by Julia Anderson Root, The HedUng
Power of Mind, San Francisco, 1884.

I . ..

Othee Organizations 233

fornia; also at Victoria, B. C, and Walla Walla,
Washington.

Mrs. Militz, who became the leading teacher in
California, moved in 1896 to Los Angeles and
established the Home of Truth there. Mrs.
Militz was also the leader in the establishment of
the other Homes .of Truth in California. The
Master Mindj the monthly periodical represent-
ing this branch of the movement, was begun in
1911. The Home of Truth idea has gradually
been extended to other parts of the country, and
has become a widely recognized plan for New-
Thought work and propaganda.

The work of the original Home of Truth in
San Francisco is typical of this work at its best.
The location of the Home was changed several
times, and in the great fire of 1906 the building
with all its contents was destroyed. "The con-
structive spirit of San Francisco showed itself
in the activity of the Home, which almost im-
mediately went to work arranging for its meet-
ings in the homes of students until a suitable
place could be found for its permanent housing.
Besides the thousands of adults who have been
taught the true life and who have been freed
from poverty and all manner of disease, especial
attention has been given to children, the Sunday-
school class-work for them forming an impor-

284 The New Thought Movement

tant feature in the Home. Several true visions
have been launched, supported by free-will of-
ferings for a few years, then passed into the in-
visible, there to be strengthened until the race is
ready to receive them back in full force, such as a
kindergarten, a woman's exchange. Homes of
Truth for children, and centres where unhoused
men may find the atmosphere of a true home and
comfort.

"There are two Rest Homes in connection with
the work, one in San, Jose and the other in Gar-
vanza, where students and patients abide while
being delivered from limitation. A beautiful ex-
pression of this inspired work is now in full ac-
tivity under the supervision of Mrs. Militz, in
connection with the Los Angeles Home, known
as 'The University of Christ,' where teacher-stu-
dents are trained to open and minister in Cen-
tres of Truth.

"A vital Men's Meeting conducted by men
only has found true devotion and highest results
in aiding men to feel at home in the truth.
There is one in the San Francisco Home and one
in the Los Angeles Home, with weekly gather-
ings. As the Home idea may not be confined
to a house with many rooms and servants, but
may find expression in a flat, apartment, hotel,
boat-house, cottage or room, so the Home of
Truth idea has found ideal expression in many

k

Othee Organizations 285

small centres of truth known by various names
such as 'The Down Town Centre/ San Fran-
cisco, with its 'Noon-day Talks.' "

The idea of the Home of Truth has been ex-
pressed by one of the leaders as follows: "A
presentation of Jesus Christ's teachings and
practice is offered to the world in these Homes
that is believed to be the primitive ministry of
Christianity which was given to the world for
man's healing or salvation — body, mind, soul,
and estate. The chief teacher and founder is
Jesus Christ; the great authority for our belief
is the Holy Spirit within each one; and the
church is the whole body of divine humanity
everywhere, visible and invisible, all being broth-
ers and sisters, with one Father-Mother whose
name is God.

"The text-books are: first, the four Gospels,
Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, especially the
words of Jesus Christ; second, the remaining
books of the Bible; and third, all other Scriptures
and writings that have blessed humanity. We
do not organize, have formed no new church or
creed, but recognize that the homes of the na-
tion are the spiritually natural places for wor-
ship and for the healing and teaching ministry.
The true home is the beginning of heaven on
earth, promised by the Spirit and prophesied by
the Christ.

236 The New Thought Movement

"The Home of Truth teaches the absolute
doctrine of the AUness of God the Good, and
that love to God and to the neighbor is one. It
teaches the divinity of man and his unity with
God; that heaven is within and is to be proved
in thought, word and deed. It teaches that
health, joy, and prosperity are spiritual and be-
long fully to those who know truth and live the
life.

"The healing ministry is the same as that of
Jesus Christ, who healed through knowledge and
by speaking the word of truth, silently and
audibly. No charge is made for any of its min-
istrations, for all the gifts of God are free ; there-
fore we are not under the law of barter. Ac-
cording to the law of love we give freely and re-
ceive freely, under the free-will offering plan.
Each Home is independent of all the others
financially and in the use of methods, and yet
all are in perfect harmony as to the main pur-
pose. Each Home aspires to be one of all the
Homes of Truth throughout the earth. Its most
earnest desire is that every home shall be a heal-
ing centre where any one who loves the truth
may find spiritual refreshment, instruction and
counsel, 'without money and without price';
where they may be healed physically and morally,
and become themselves instruments of blessing,
to hasten the day of a redeemed world.

fe>

Othee Oeganizations 287

"There is a Sunday-school for children con-
nected with each Home, Bible classes, healing
meetings, devotional services, daily individual
healing and class-instruction. The Metaphys-
ical Library in San Francisco, situated at 126
Post Street, is a product of the Homes of Truth,
and is managed by a committee containing sev-
eral of its devoted workers."

Mrs. Militz taught classes in Chicago, 1898-
1902, when she was leader of the Chicago Truth
Centre and speaker for the Prentice Mulford
Club. She also taught classes in Boston, Brook-
lyn and New York City, and then began a two
years' teaching tour of the world, spending seven
months in Japan, four in India, and six in Eng-
land. In 1918 Mrs. Militz made a second torn*
of the world, accompanied by three students.
Miss Grace Wilson, afterward secretary of the
International New Thought Alliance; Mrs.
Anna C. Howlett, and Miss Florence N. John-
son. During this tour Mrs. Militz taught in
Honolulu, in the four largest cities of Australia,
in Paris, England and Scotland.

In Denver, Colorado, the first phase of the
therapeutic movement to become generally
known was due to the teachings of Melinda E.
Cramer, Fannie B. James, and other Divine
Scientists. The Colorado College of Divine Sci-
ence, located at 730 East 17th St., was incor-

288 The New Thought Movement

porated in 1898, "for the purpose of instruc-
tion in the law and order of Divine Healing as
declared by Jesus Christ, and for the promo-
tion of the religious, educational and etliical
principles [of] the system knovm as Divine Sci-
ence/' Miss Nona L. Brooks is president, and
Mrs. Ruth B. Smith, secretary-treasurer. The
books used include Truth and Health, by Fan-
nie B. James; Studies in Divine Science, by
Mrs. C. L. Baum; and Divine Science and Heal-
i'^y^ by Mrs. Cramer. The ninth annual assem-
bly of the college was held Feb. 4-6, 1919. The
activities of this branch of Divine Science include
the Missouri College of Divine Science, under
the leadership of H. H. Schroeder, St. Louis,
Mo.; Rev. Mr. Murray's First Divine Science
Church of New York City; and Glints of Wis-
dom, edited by T. M. Minard, Portland, Oregon.
Power, a monthly magazine edited and pub-
lished by Charles E. Prather, Denver, contains
a Higher Thought directory of Truth Centres
and Divine Science Centres. . Mr. Prather's
Power School of Truth, incorporated 1916, is in
part an outgrowth of the Unity movement in
Kansas City. His magazine bears the sub-title
"The Higher Thought Magazine of Practical
Christianity." Thus the several names and
terms prove to be virtually interchangeable, and
the term New Thought may once more be taken

Othee Organizations 239

in its representative sense as standing for Divine
Science, the Higher Thought and Practical
Christianity.

The same interchangeable use of terms is to
be observed in the case of one of the most vigorous
of the New Thought periodicals, Now, pub-
lished in San Francisco, Cal., described in its
sub-title as "a Monthly Journal of Positive Af-
firmations, devoted to Mental Science and the
Art of Living." This magazine was established
by Henry Harrison Brown, in 1900. Its basic
aflBrmation is, "Man is spirit here and now, with
all the possibilities of Divinity within him and
he can consciously manifest these possibilities
here and now.'' Mr. Brown was well known as
the author of New Thought Primer, San Fran-
cisco, 1903, and other volumes on mental heal-
ing. He was succeeded by Sam E. Foulds as
editor of Now. The kind of mental science im-
plied in the above mentioned sub-title is that of
the New Thought in general, after the use of af-
firmations pertaining to every phase of life came
into vogue.

The World's Advance Thought, edited and
published by Mrs. Lucy A. Mallory, Portland,
Oregon, was the pioneer mental-healing publi-
cation in the far Northwest. In the state of
Washington, interest early appeared in Helen
Wilmans' type of mental science, and a Mental

240 The New Thought Movement

Science Association was organized in Seattle.
The first convention was held in Seattle in 1899.
The second convention representing this mental
science was held at Seabreeze, Florida, in 1900.

Prior to 1907, W. K. Jones was a leading
pioneer in making the New Thought known in
Portland, Oregon. In 1907, Benj. Fay Mills
held a series of meetings and classes on Emer-
son, Whitman, and the Bhagavad Gita. From
these classes there followed a society known as
the Fellowship Society of Portland, Oregon,
with the late Clara Bewick Colby as president.
There was also a council of five appointed, Dr.
J. J. Story, Perry Joseph Green, Mrs. O. N.
Denny, Dr. Mary Thompson, and T. O. Hague,
with Florence A. SuUenberg, secretary. Tues-
day evenings were set apart for the study of
Emerson's Essays, and out of these groups came
the present Emerson Study Circle, which meets
at the Metaphysical Library. Other centres
developed from the Fellowship Society and
adopted the name New Thought.

Rev. Victor Henry Morgan of Tacoma,
Washington, a Universalist pastor in good stand-
ing, preaches from his pulpit the New Thought
philosophy, and practises mental healing; but
prefers to stay in the organization to which he
belongs. A considerable movement has ema-
nated from the teachings of Mrs. Agnes Galer

Othee Organizations 241

in Seattle, Washington. She has taught for
several years, organized a school and church, edu-
cated several teachers, and workers who in turn
have organized classes, and the general move-
ment is known as Divine Science, while the
classes are generally called Truth Centres.

Mr. Granville Lowther reports that there is
"a widespread influence, not so well organized,
growing out of the teachings of Mrs^ Militz and
Harriet Hale Rix through their magazine. Mas-
ter Mind. This type of teaching is like Chris-
tian Science in that its adherents believe that
mind is the only reality. In philosophy they
would be called subjective idealists. They deny
reality of matter. Unity has a considerable
number of readers, and a few Unity classes are
organized. They too teach subjective idealism,
but I have generally found that the average
reader does not fully imderstand the difference
between the two philosophies of subjective and
objective idealism. What they want is some-
thing to help them in the practical duties and re-
sponsibilities of life. Nautilus, edited by Mrs.
Towne, has a larger number of readers than all
other New Thought magazines in the district.
Mrs. Towne's philosophy is that of objective
idealism, that is, she believes in the reality of
matter. . . .

"One of the largest movements in the district

242 The New Thought Movement

perhaps is located at Spokane under the leader-
ship of Rev J. K. Grier. Mr. Grier was once
pastor of a Universalist church in Spokane.
There seemed to be some conflict between him-
self and the leaders of his church on the question
of healing. He adopted what is practically our
New Thought philosophy, but prefers not to be
called by that name. He has organized a good
church, erected a good church building with
large audience room, class rooms, healing rooms,
basement and kitchen. The machinery of his
church is working with splendid energy. He
has an assistant pastor. Rev. E. Edward Mills.
They are holding considerable missionary work
in sending out teachers and workers in different
dkections."

In Los Angeles, Cal., the Metaphysical
Library was founded by Eleanor M. Reesberg,
in 1902. Miss Reesberg, who was one of the
pioneer lecturers in California, issues a Meta-
physicians' bulletin. The May-July number,
1919, contains the announcement of the sixteenth
annual Metaphysicians' May Festival, which
was held in Los Angeles, May 1-8. The speak-
ers included Harriet Hale Rix, Florence Craw-
ford, Swami Paramananda, Edward B. War-
man, W. Frederic Keeler, Jessie W. Boerstler,
Henry Victor Morgan, and James E. Dodds.
The Aquarian Ministry, "a Christ-ministry de-

Othee Organizations 243

voted to healing, teaching and the awakening
of the latent soul-powers," Geo. B. Brownell and
Louise B. Brownell, healers, is another branch
of the therapeutic movement in Los Angeles.
The Universal New Thought Studio and Lec-
ture Room is in charge of Miss Grace Wilson,
formerly secretary of the New Thought Alli-
ance. The activities of this centre include Sun-
day services, class instruction, a New Thought
singing school, healing meetings, and "fimda-
mentals of New Thought for children." Dis-
trict conferences of the Alliance are held under
the auspices of Miss Rix, who is vice-president
for Southern California and Arizona, assisted by
the teachers and members of the Alliance.

In Chicago and New York, as in other large
cities, the movement has passed through all the
phases from mental science in its early forms
to the New Thought of the present day, and the
societies are too numerous for special mention.
Among recent organizations of note in these
cities. The League for the Larger Life, New
York City, is most notable, since it endeavors to
bring together all centres and leaders in a com-
mon interest. The officers of the League when
incorporated were Orison Swett Harden, presi-
dent; Miss Mary Allen, first vice-president;
Mrs. Maud P. Messner, second vice-president;
Eugene Del Mar, third vice-president, since

244 The New Thought Movement

chosen president; Dr. Julia Seton, fourth vice-
president; Mrs. Laura G. Cannon, secretary;
Charles Crapp, auditor; with Walter Goodyear,
Miss Edith A. Martin, Mrs. Clara Barstow,
and Mrs. D. L. Hunt, as additional oflficers.
The League issues a directory of teachers of the
New Thought in Greater New York, holds
regular Sunday services addressed by the lead-
ers, with classes and healing meetings during the
week. A Union Meeting is held the second
Sunday of each month. At its headquarters,
222 W. 72nd St., the League furnishes teachers
and speakers for public meetings, and supplies
books through a circulating library and store.

The League is incorporated under the laws
of the State of New York, and its purposes are,
"to spread a knowledge of the fundamental prin-
ciples that imderlie healthy and harmonious liv-
ing, and which will prevent or alleviate himian
suffering — omental, moral, financial and social;
to assist the individual in the solution of personal
problems; to encourage self-reliance, self-mas-
tery and efficiency through constructive thinking
and correct psychological and physical methods.
The League aims to provide a place where
strangers as well as members may obtain reliable
information about The Larger Life Movement
— its centres, lectures, teachers and literature."

Another branch of the therapeutic movement

Other Organizations 245

owes its origin to the work of Dr. Julia Seton/
who chose the name Church and School of the
New Civilization. The first church was founded
in Boston by Dr. Seton, in September, 1905,
now under the leadership of Miss Emma C.
Poore. The second centre was founded in New
York in 1907, with Dr. Seton as minister; the
third in Brooklyn, N. Y., May Cornell Stoiber,
minister ; the fourth in London, England, Muriel
Brown, minister. Other churches were estab-
lished in Cleveland, Ohio; Buffalo, N. Y.; Chi-
cago, 111. ; Denver, Colo. ; and one in California.
These churches were organized on the basis of
twelve fundamental principles. The school is a
regular part of the work, and has departments
devoted to metaphysics, philosophy, mysticism
and music.

The central statement is that the "New Civil-
ization Church came because mankind built it
with its desires. It is the deep of supply an-
swering to the deep of need. It will remain be-
cause mankind can use it as sane, sensible, spirit-
ual substance, with which he can pass his life
into higher manifestation of health, wealth, love,
service and worship. This church believes in
all churches, all creeds and all people, without
regard to class, creed or color. Any one can
come into the new church and learn its funda-

1 Formerly Dr. Julia Seton Sears.

246 The New Thought Movement

mentals and principles and return to his own
church, his own country, his own class, his own
people and better fulfill his life's destiny.

*'The New Thought church . . . knows no
evil. It has only the wisdom of a perfected uni-
verse, in perfect situations, among perfect
people; there are no errors in the great eternal
plan. What [man] calls dark and damned is
to him wholly significant of God — God is All —
there is no life but God. God had only one sub-
stance out of which to make the world and that
was Himself. . . .

"The new church is filled with a congregation
who have been redeemed out from all countries,
all races, all peoples, and all colors into the ONE
life that is in All and through All. Into this
great religion has come the evolved Brahman,
the evolved Buddhist, the evolved Jew, the
evolved Mohammedan, and the evolved Chris-
tian, bringing with them all that was worthy to
exist in the old. These united in a purpose of
a higher humanity, have formed a fulcrum of
spiritual power through which the upper masters
of the spheres can drag onward the whole hu-
man race."

After the organization of the Metaphysical
Club in Boston, the next step was to start similar
societies in other cities in New England, and
then to bring the various New Thought Centres

Othee Organizations 247

into a central organization. Meanwhile the
movement had been growing rapidly and there
was a general desire for a society to represent
New-Thought interests as a whole. Steps were
taken toward the formation of such a society in
the summer of 1908. The first meeting of the
representatives from the New England states
was held in the Metaphysical Club Hall, Bos-
ton, November 14, 1910. Mr. R. C. Douglass,
who was present in behalf of the National New
Thought Alliance, advocated a federation of cen-
tres in New England, although the work of a
federation would be different from that of the
AUiance. The society was organized under the
name of the New England Federation of New
Thought Centres, with Mrs. Sara G. M. La
Vake, Brookline, Mass., president pro tem., and
Mrs. Frances Tillinghast, Portland, Maine, sec-
retary pro tem. It was voted to meet semi-an-
nually.

The second conference was held at Worces-
ter, Mass., March, 1911. The speakers included
G. Stanley HaU, president of Clark Univer-
sity, and Mrs. May Wright Sewall. Mrs. La
Vake was elected president, three vice-presidents
were chosen; Miss Harriette Bragee, Boston,
was elected secretary ; and Miss Ardella Farnam,
Worcester, treasurer. Succeeding conferences
were held in Portland, Maine, November, 1911;

248 The New Thought Movement

Boston, 1912, when Dr. Anna B. Parker of Bos-
ton, was elected president. Miss Alice E. Strong
of Boston, secretary, and Mrs. La Vake was
made honorary president ; Lynn, Mass., Novem-
ber, 1912; Cambridge, Mass., November, 1913;
April, 1914, when Mrs. Mary E. Chandler of
Providence, R. I., was elected president. In
November, 1914, the Federation met at Hart-
ford, Conn.; in April, 1915, at Boston, Dr. G.
C. B. Ewell, president; in November, 1915, at
Stoughton, Mass.; in April, 1916, at Boston mi-
der the auspices of the Chm-ch of the Higher
Life, when Mrs. Mary E. Thayer of Boston was
chosen president; in November, 1916, at Spring-
field, Mass.; and in April, 1917, at Boston, in
co-operation with the New Thought Forum.
There were then 88 New Thought Centres in
New England represented in the Federation,
"banded together in loyal comradeship . . . add-
ing the zest of a social touch which makes us
members of one family dwelling together in
brotherly love." The secretary reported that
the "smaller centres have been greatly strength-
ened, with the incentive of individuality in a
broad cooperation; and the larger centres have
extended their interest through acquaintance
with many New-Thought neighbors they would
never have known except through affiliation.
For the keynote of our assembling is for mutual

Other Organizations 249

aid in living and presenting the truth to each
other and the world. . . . Many times the small-
est circles give rich return in our heart-to-heart
counsel, for the spirit is not measured by num-
bers." In 1915, the Federation delegated the
president, Mrs. L#a Vake, to represent the Fed-
eration at the congress in San Francisco.

The Metaphysical Guild of Boston was or-
ganized for the "Promotion of Spiritual Under-
standing," and the first meeting was held April
4, 1915, the first interest being to meet the need
for a New-Thought meeting in Boston on Sun-
day evenings, and to give an opportunity to visit-
ing teachers to address audiences at Metaphysical
Hall. The speakers have included Walter De-
voe, Henry Victor Morgan and T. J. Shelton.
The members assist the New-Thought work in
various ways, corresponding with people in state
prisons, visiting the sick, opening homes for
those in need of friendly service. The Guild
was organized by Mrs. Clara Haven Wallace.
The New Thought Library and Reading Room,
120 Boylston St., the most recently organized
Society in Boston, is devoted to the same activi-
ties as those of the Metaphysical Club. The
New Thought Forum is a free platform for the
discussion of liberal questions of all types.
There is also a Home of Truth. Sunday serv-
ices are held by Miss Poore, Mrs. C. E. C. Nor-
ris and other leaders.

250 The New Thought Movement

The New-Thought movement in Cincinnati,
Ohio, owes its origin to Christian D. Larson,
who in January, 1901, organized the New
Thought Temple, at his residence, 947 West Sev-
enteenth St. In September of that year Mr.
Larson began to publish Eternal Progress, for
several years one of the leading New-Thought
periodicals. In November, 1902, Simday morn-
ing services were inaugurated. At this service
fifteen minutes' silence was a leading feature.
A little church building seating three hundred
people was secured in 1904. Mr. Larson re-
signed in 1907, and was succeeded by Paul
Tyner, in November, 1908. Harry Gaze was
the next leader, and then Miss Leila Simon, in
1912.

Miss Simon's report of the situation in Cin-
cinnati at the time, after a lull in the work there,
indicates the kind of work sometimes accom-
plished in building up a society which had lost
headway. Miss Simon says: "I found the New
Thought Temple Society struggling along with-
out a leader, disorganized, inharmonious, with
forty-seven members on the roster, about one-
half of which were active. They were without
adequate funds, and found difficulty in paying
the small expense of $30.00 per month rent for
a hall for Sunday services. Besides this deplor-
able internal condition. New Thought in Cin-

r.

Other Organizations 261

cinnati had neither recognition nor standing in
the community. It was thought to consist of
long-haired men and short-haired women, who
were queer, erratic, crazy folk. Today we have
about nine hundred members, call out an audience
of fifteen hundred, own property amounting to
$26,000.00, besides having more than $3,500.00
in the bank. We have gained the respect of all
Cincinnati, and number among our members the
most cultivated and prominent men and women
of the city.

"My first New-Thought service brought out
an audience of less than twenty-five people.
Two years later I spoke constantly to from
twelve hundred to fifteen hundred people.

"From the outset, I considered the work of
The New Thought Temple entirely separate
from personality. It was not mine, but impelled
by the Spirit of God, and it is this conviction
and consecration that is the moving Power of
The New Thought Temple. My first thought
from the beginning of my ministry and today is
'If you believe in God's power, prove it.' If
you teach health, harmony and prosperity, fur-
nish the actual proofs. . . .

"My first move was to refuse to recognize
the poverty-stricken consciousness of the New
Thought Temple actually. I firmly set aside
all gratuitous invitations from members who of-

i

252 The New Thought Movement

fered to lend their homes for classes, etc., and
also refused to house the activities in cheap rooms.
As we had no money this was a radical step. My
first classes were held in my own apartment,
situated in the best part of Cincinnati. The
Sunday services were held in a hall seating one
hundred people. In less than three months we
had outgrown this hall, and my apartment class-
rooms. Before the end of the first year, we had
audiences of five hundred and were finally
crowded out of a large auditorium and compelled
to rent the Orpheum Theatre, (at a weekly ren-
tal of $55.00), with a seating capacity of fifteen
hundred, to accommodate the people who wished
to attend the Sunday services. For two years
we held services in this theatre with capacity
audiences. . . .

"After the first two years, the New Thought
Temple financed easily without deficit, an ex-
pense account of $10,000.00 a year. We kept
to our initial, inflexible rule of paying bills on
sight, and called into operation the Law of
Giving and Receiving, by making no definite
charges either for healing or classes. The third
year we bought a lot for $12,000.00, paying for
it in a little more than a year's time. On Octo-
ber 22nd, 1916, we moved into the lower struc-
ture of The New Thought Temple, which has
been erected at a cost of $14,000.00, having all

Other Organizations 253

indebtedness discharged on the day we accepted
the building from the contractors, an unprece-
dented feat for any church in the city.

"The New Thought Temple is thoroughly but
flexibly organized, with a Board of Trustees of
eleven men. It is the only church in the country,
I believe, whose membership outnumbers its seat-
ing capacity, thus necessitating two Sunday
services to separate congregations. There is a
marvelous spirit of harmony, cooperation and
fine imselfish service. Among its activities last
year [1916] and the year preceding, were a
free bread-line where more than six thousand
men a week were fed, and an established mis-
sion. We have a splendid Sunday-school,
weekly classes, and give free lectures to the pub-
lic at intervals in one of the largest theatres in
the city. Many thousands of people here have
been influenced and benefited by the New-
Thought message."

In St. Louis, Mo., the movement known, as
Practical Christianity was the first to be estab-
lished, also a German branch of the movement
under the leadership of H. H. Schroeder, editor
since 1893 of Das Worty a periodical devoted to
mental-healing for German-Americans. The
first New Thought Centre was organized Sep-
tember 23, 1910. A few people who had been
meeting once or twice a month at a private house

254 The New Thought Movement

met on that occasion for a public statement of
the principles for which they stood. Everett
W. Pattison was chosen president and the name
adopted was Metaphysical League. Later, the
name was changed to New Thought League,
with Miss Harriet C. Hulick, manager. Meet-
ings have been regularly held on Sunday and
Friday evenings. The resident speakers have
included Charles T. Kenney, Charles P. Tiley,
P. M. Bruner, and Miss H. C. Hulick.

The founder of the Order of the White Rose
and the College of Divine Sciences and Realiza-
tion, Cleveland, Ohio, Rev. J. F. C. Grumbine,
began his work in Geneseo, 111., in 1894, and
with the publication of a quarterly magazine,
Immortality, in Chicago. Mr. Grumbine was a
Universalist, then a Unitarian minister. He
was one of the pioneer New-Thought lecturers
and teachers, and has taught many hundreds of
students in Boston and other parts of the United
States, in Australia and England. His College
of Divine Sciences and Realization is a corre-
spondence school and has taught students from
all parts of the world. Mr. Grumbine calls his
ideal "Universal Religion," and endeavors to
show that science is both divine and natural.
He is lecturer to the Psycho Science Society, in
Cleveland, whose church buildings include an
auditorium and parsonage.

Othee Okganizations 255

In Philadelphia, Pa., the pioneer teachers
were Miss Ellen M. Dyer and Miss Christian.
A Truth Centre flourished there for a time, and
later gave place to the Unity Centre and the
Truth Centre. In Washington, D. C, the
pioneer teacher and healer was Miss Emma
Gray, of the Christian Science Institute, now
known as the National New Thought Centre,
under the leadership of Miss Gray and Dr.
Ricker. Miss Gray is vice-president of the In-
ternational New Thought Alliance for the Dis-
trict of Columbia and Maryland. Mrs. Flor-
ence Willard Day began her therapeutic work
in Washington in 1898, and established The
Temple of Truth in 1904.

Starting with borrowed capital amounting to
$30.00, Mrs. Elizabeth Towne, then Mrs. J. H.
Struble, has gradually built up a publishing
house and a magazine. Nautilus^ which has prob-
ably had the largest circulation of any New-
Thought periodical. Mrs. Towne began with
the publication of a four-page pamphlet in her
home in Portland, Oregon. Later, she moved
to Holyoke, Mass., where with her husband, Mr.
William E. Towne, she has developed the pub-
lishing business and taken an active part in New-
Thought propagandism. Nautilus, sold exten-
sively on the newstands, has taken the place of
many of the earlier magazines, and is typical of

256 The New Thought Movement

the New Thought in its most popular and pros-
perous form.

Unity, Kansas City, is still the representative
magazine of the branch of the movement known
as practical Christianity. Its editors and their
associates have not identified their activities with
the therapeutic movement in general, but have
widely extended their influence by organizing
The Society of Silent Unity, which has many
thousands of members throughout the world.
Every day at noon and every evening at nine
o'clock the members of this society go apart for
a brief period of meditation on the "class
thought" sent out by the magazine each month.
The thought for the noon meditation for April,
1919, was "Peace be within thy walls, and pros-
perity within thy palaces," and for the evening,
"I will lift up mine eyes unto the mountains,
from whence cometh my help." This society
was organized in behalf of the absent healing de-
partment of the Unity work. Extensive work
through correspondence is one of the activities
centering in Kansas City, where is located The
Unity School of Christianity, with a fine modern
building, containing a large auditorium and
class-rooms. No fees are demanded for mem-
bership in the Society of Silent Unity, but mem-
bers are asked to make voluntary contributions
to defray expenses. Every month the maga-

Other Organizations 257

zine prints testimonials as to the value of its work
in behalf of the sick and those seeking prosperity
and improved conditions. The announcement
of the Society says, "You can become a member
of this Society and receive its help, if you have
faith in the power of God. We will pray to the
Father in secret and he will reward you openly.
This promise is being fulfilled daily in his
work." 1

The Unity movement is operated as a corpora-
tion under the name of Unity School of Christi-
anity. Remuneration is based on whatever those
benefited are moved to give. The Unity Tract
Society is the publishing department of the work.
The Unity buildings cover more than an acre and
the publications reach 500,000 people.

1 What we have undertaken to do fai this chapter is to give, not
an exhaustive account of the organizations, but an account of
those that are typical. Some of the omissions are due to the fact
that there are organizations which have failed to give the needed
information concerning their present activities. A few of the
leaders have preferred to have only brief mention made of their
work. Further information concerning the societies may be ob-
tained by consulting the leading magazines, and the bulletins
issued by the various libraries and centres. The historian will be
glad to receive additional information from time to time concern-
ing all the organizations and leaders.

XII

THE MOVEMENT IN FOBEIGN LANDS

"The New Thought Movement came because
mankind built it with their desires." This
quotation stands at the head of an article on
"The Great Power in and Through All," by M.
Douglas Fox, in The Rally, London, the oflScial
organ of the New Thought Extension Work in
England. The article is significant and inter-
esting as an indication of the way in which the
growth of the movement is regarded in England.

"If we think for a moment we shall see that
these words are a demonstration of the great
cosmic law of demand and supply. Looking
down the pages of history we find that whenever
there was a crying, pressing need, and the souls
of men went out in a great cry to the Infinite
Source, back from the Source came the supply.

"For a very long time there has been going out
from the souls of men a great cry for a wider
religion and a greater inclusion, and their cry
has waxed stronger and stronger.

"At the beginning of the nineteenth century
the accepted ideas of God had become the op-
posite of those taught by Jesus the Christ, and

258

The Movement in Foreign Lands 259

they were to all intents and purposes those of
the Jews of old. God was not a loving, tender
Father ; but a revengeful, capricious tyrant, who
placed His newly created spirits in various
bodies, and strongly contrasted environments.
Here a child bom with a criminal body, with
wretched surroundings, and little incentive to
virtue; and there another born of pure parents,
with good conditions, and little incentive to evil.

"Yet, the religion of that day, taking no ac-
coimt of causes, taught that all the placidly and
easily good ones would enjoy the everlasting
bliss of heaven ; while all others would find ever-
lasting torment in the place they called hell.
Thus God was represented as sitting apart from
His world, in the bright, clear sky; while the
devil stalked triumphant through the world.
But the race-mind was rapidly evolving beyond
such teaching; it no longer met the need — ^the
great yearning of the race.

**Everywhere men were awaking to consider-
ation of the inequalities; and the seeming injus-
tices of hirnian life ; and to their question of why
these things were so, the Church had only one
answer, viz., that *God*s doings were inscrutable ;
and must not be questioned.'

"But the answer to the earnest cry was poured
out from the Infinite Source of Love ; and little
by little, a more rational religion was filtering

260 The New Thought Movement

through the old; and man began to understand
more and more of his own complex nature, with
its various planes of expression on which his
evolution from the atom of God takes place.

"At the beginning of the nineteenth century
man knew little of those finer planes of Nature
which interpenetrate our physical plane; and he
was ignorant also of the true facts relating to
the physical plane, and its evolution.

"Orthodox science taught that man was a
special creation, owing nothing to the kingdoms
below him. Darwin's discovery of the evolution
* of the physical man, shattered the old belief, and
satisfied a small part of man's great longing.
But there are other and finer planes of man's
being, which, if he live entirely on the physical,
must be starved. And so, by giving too much
consideration to this physical plane, man came
to think this was all; and to lose his belief in a
life after death; and to regard death as final.
Heaven and hell became to him fairy tales to be
discarded; and his heart sickened and failed be-
cause of his unbelief.

"Then came a new philosophy, which declared
that the dear dead were not lost for ever, were
not far away; but living and loving still; nearer
than ever, only on a different plane of life.

"The spiritualistic movement restored hope to
many a soul who had lost all joy of life. The

The Movement in Foeeign Lands 261

astral plane was studied ; and found by many to
be very wonderful, and very beautiful. But
this does not comprise all the finer natures, and
man must learn to live evenly on all planes if
he would live in Power.

"The truth about the third plane came to be
taught by H. P. Blavatsky, from a deep study
of Eastern lore. The mental part of man, then,
forms another plane of life; and the discovery
was followed by an over-appreciation of this
plane.

"Then a fuller and deeper revelation was shed
abroad on the earth, through the Christian
Scientists, whose teaching that man is a spirit-
ual being, in a spiritual world proclaimed to the
world the true nature of man ; but while looking
to the spiritual the Christian Scientists denied
the physical, which is the garment of the spirit-
ual ; and equally a part of man.

"Our New Thought Movement teaches a still
wider inclusion; having for its first vital funda-
mental, the one mind in all and through all.
This is not a religion ; not a sect ; it is a principle,
which hnks and unifies the world thought.

"New Thought is constructive; and will de-
stroy nothing as it condemns nothing. Its open-
armed welcome to those of every class, creed and
color, has drawn into the movement a motley
crowd; and New Thought is seeking to harmon-

262 The New Thought Movement

ize these just as every note in a chord of music
is harmonized ; as the varied tints of a landscape
create the glorious beauty of the scene ; or as the
perfume of every flower in your garden mingles
to make glad the heart of man.

"We shall never be alike; never think alike.
There will be sects, and schools of thought.
There will be greater and stronger individuality ;
but there will be a cessation of the jarring, and
the jangling of creeds and opinions; a truer lib-
erty, and a deeper love as we come to realize that
men, nations and things are joined in the One
Life in all and through all, and that there is
nothing outside of God.'*

The history of the movement in England did
not diflFer essentially from its development in
the United States. In England as in America,
interest was aroused by Christian Science, then
came a gradual reaction and the establishment
of independent branches of the movement.
Leaders of the Higher Thought appeared after
a time, and it became customary for New-
Thought leaders from America to visit London
and other cities, exchanging views with English
leaders and holding classes. Among these may
be mentioned Mr. Patterson, Dr. Julia Seton,
who established the New Thought Centre, and
Mrs. Militz, in connection with her lecturing
tours of the world. The Woman's Union, on

The Movement in Fobeign Lands 268

Ebury Street, London, led in time to the Higher
Thought Centre, 40 Courtfield Gardens, Ken-
sington, and some of the leaders, notably Miss
Alice Callow, secretary, have been connected
with the work in London from the beginning.
Similar centres were established in diflFerent
parts of England and. Scotland, also in Ireland.
With the coming of The New Thought Alliance
to London in 1914, the devotees of the move-
ment in the British Isles became identified with
the international movement and the Alliance has
since been recognized as the world's New
Thought society.

The most widely read of the English New-
Thought writers was Judge T. Troward (1834-
1916), bom in India, educated at the Victoria
College, Island of Jersey, divisional judge, and
author of Edinburgh Lectures on Mental Science
and other volumes.

The Higher Thought Centre in Nottingham
was established in September, 1906. The New
Life Centre, a healing and educational home,
was founded at Spring Grove House, Isleworth,
London, W., in 1910. Sunday services were es-
tablished later, and a library, with rooms for
healing. Spring Grove House has since be-
come the largest establishment of its kind in
England, and its founder. Dr. O. E. Miller, one
of the chief workers. The plan is to build up

264 The New Thought Movement

an industrial cooperative educational centre
where men and women may come to live and en-
gage in all branches of useful and artistic work.
A printing department has already been estab-
lished. Other centres in cooperation with the
one at Isleworth have been organized in Hast-
ings and Wolverhampton. In July, 1914, Mr.
Paul Tyner, who acquired his interest in the
New Thought from the publications of Helen
Wilmans, in 1893, became the leader of the New
Thought Centre, 85 Hanover Street, Edinburgh.
Mr. Tyner, author of The JLiving Christ, editor
of The Temple, Denver, Colorado, and in 1898-
99 editor of The Arena, was associated with Mr.
Patterson in the Alliance School of Applied
Metaphysics, in New York; and, in cooperation
with Mr. Eugene Del Mar, author of Spiritual
and Mental Attraction, and The Divinity of
Desire, organized the first Mental Science Tem-
ple in New York. He was minister of the New
Thought Temple, Cincinnati, Ohio, 1909-10,
and of the Dayton, Ohio, Truth Centre, 1910-
11. Later, while in New York, Mr. Tyner or-
ganized in connection with the New Thought
Magazine, edited by W. W. Atkinson, Chicago,
111., 140 New-Thought reading rooms in differ-
ent parts of the country.

Among others recently to do a large work in
the British Isles, is Mr. F. L. Rawson of Lon-

The Movement in Foeeign Lands 265

don, whose teaching is ahnost identical with
Christian Science without the claims ordinarily
made in behalf of Mrs. Eddy. Formerly a con-
sulting engineer, Mr. Rawson was retained by
the Daily Express to make a professional ex-
amination into mental healing. The result was
the discovery that such healing was practised all
over the world, and Mr. Rawson became an ard-
ent therapeutist. During the war he turned to
the care of soldiers, and in a pamphlet entitled
How to Protect our Soldiers, he gives what he
calls the "secret of divine protection."

In this pamphlet Mr. Rawson says, "Today
there are many millions of mental workers, con-
taining some fifty or sixty schools. Only four
or five of these work on the basis that Jesus did,
namely, by turning in thought to God. The re-
mainder work in the same way as the sorcerers
and witches of the past and the black magic
workers and hypnotists today, namely, with the
human mind. This means that they use one or
other of the five diflFerent forms of hypnotism,
all of which are more or less harmful, not only to
the patient, but to the practitioner.

"The real value of my investigation for the
Daily Express and of Life Understood, which
contains the results of my work, does not lie
in proving that all disease is mental . . , Nor
to prove that matter is mental phenomena. The

266 The New Thought Movement

real value lies in proving the difference between
the right and wrong method of mental work-
ing. . . . The right method of healing [is] by
the realization of the divine mind . . . the
scientific method of right thinking which was
taught and demonstrated by Jesus the Christ,
the most perfect and the most scientific man that
ever lived.

"There is a hard and fast line drawn between
the two methods of mental working, and between
the right and the wrong method of prayer.
Jesus pointed out the difference more than once.
If, when you are mentally working, you are
thinking of reality, that is, of God, of heaven,
the real world, of the Christ, or of the spiritual
man, you are helping your patient, yourself, and
the world. If, on the contrary, you are think-
ing of the material man or the mental world,
whatever you are thinking about them, unless
you are denying their reality, you are harming
your patient, harming yourself, and doing no
good to the world. Even by strong, determined
thinking, or will-power, trying to bring about
what you think is good, you can neither destroy
the evil thoughts nor purify the so-called himian
mind. Truth and Love, that is, God, alone
heals. The healing, then, is perfect and perma-
nent, whether of disease, sin, or any of the many
troubles that make this world a veritable hell to

The Movement in Foeeign Lands 267

so many. . . . Jesus relied on his knowledge of
God, not on strong thinking and will-power.
There is no limit to this apparent effect of
thought. If you are certain enough that you
are dead, you are dead instantly. ... If , on the
contrary, you turn to heaven and think clearly
enough of God, then the action of God takes
place, and good for all must ensue. . . . You
have to think of absolute good, the world of
reality. You have to think of an ideal world,
the highest good that you can possibly imagine.
You have to think of God and heaven; heaven
being a perfect state of consciousness, a mental
world, in which all is perfect, because all is gov-
erned by a perfect God, by the Principle of ab-
solute good.

"When I found that every thought a man
thinks has an effect, I came to the conclusion that
the highest thought I could think ought to. give
me the best result. The highest thought I could
think was to turn in thought to heaven and real-
ize the absolute love of God, getting away from
all recognition of the material world . . . God
became a living fact to me. . . . Rest on God.
It is God's business to look after you. . . . The
realization 'There is nothing but God,' I have
found the most effective against accidents. *It
is a lie ; all is spiritual,' is perhaps easier for some
to realize. . . . When you see some one in pain.

268 The New Thought Movement

instead of thinking of him as in pain and so in-
creasing it, turn in thought to heaven and realize
that there is no such thing as pain there, and
then think of the absolute joy, bliss, and hap-
piness in that perfect world."

The pioneer work of Sister Veni Cooper-
Mathieson in Australia began in 1903, under
the title of "The Woman's White Cross Moral
Reform Crusade," and a three years' lecture-
course in Sydney on "The Truth Seekers." The
first magazine. The Truth Seeker, was estab-
lished in January, 1905. In April, 1909, the
Church Universal in Perth, Western Australia,
was organized. In December, 1914, this church
was moved to Sydney, and a Truth Centre was
established. The first magazine was united
with The Healer and called The Revealer, in
1915, the year of the founding of The Univer-
sal Truth Publishing Co. of Australasia. A
Home of Truth was also established that year.

The Church Universal daily affirmation is in-
troduced as follows in The Revealer, "These
affirmations are spoken to the Real Self, the
Spiritual Being within each of us. The phys-
ical body — the flesh and blood — is but the temple
wherein He dwells, and is therefore but that
which is at our service to transmute by the Word
into a Spiritual expression of our real God-
being, brought forth from the perfect Image.

The Movement in Foreign Lands 269

"The real Man and Woman of each of us is
the Divine Being; and as we allow this true Self
to rule our lives, we put on the 'Mind of Christ,'
and so reveal God's Son within the Son of Man.
As the God-Self thinks and acts through us, so
will these true ideas — or Immaculate Concep-
tions — and good healthful thoughts be expressed
in the outer self — ^the body — ^and we thus daily
build that 'House not made with hands' by the
Power of Thought, which is the one Creative
Power of the Universe.

"Speak the Word only. 'According to Thy
Word be it unto thee.'

"Jehovah-Almighty, Great Father-Mother
God; I, thy child, acknowledge Thee to be my
Creator. Thou hast endowed me with all Thine
own glorious Creative Powers. Thou hast
given me richly of Thyself. There is noth-
ing that I lack. All is mine. I am created in
Thy perfect Image, and as a pure spiritual being
must reveal Thy perfect Likeness. The Seed
of the Christ is within me. I am Thine Only
Begotten and Well-beloved Son, full of Grace
and Truth. Thy Word is now made flesh and
dwells in me, the Son of God within the Son of
Man. Thy Eternal Life is my Life. Thy In-
finite Wisdom guides me. Thy Wondrous In-
telligence illumines my mind. Thy Glorious
Substance feeds me. Thy Perfect Heai.th

270 The New Thought Movement

is revealed in me. Thy Infinite Powek upholds
me. Thy Ahnighty Steength is my support.
Thy Unchanging Love surrounds me. Thy
Eternal Teuth has made me free. . . .

"With glad recognition of my glorious birth-
right, I rejoice and give praise unto Thee, my
Everlasting Father, who liveth, loveth, moveth,
and hath Thy Perfect Being in me. Thy Be-
loved Child. God and Man are inseparably
One, Now and throughout Eternity."

Mr. Philip O'Bryen Hoare started the New-
Thought work in New Zealand in 1905. Later,
Mr. Hoare lectured in New South Wales and
Queensland, and settled in Adelaide, South Aus-
tralia, where he established The First School of
New Thought and Mental Science. Later still,
Mr. Hoare lectured in Johannesburg, South
Africa, and reestablished his school of New
Thought in Melbourne, Australia.

As elsewhere, the New Thought Alliance has
been welcomed as the imifying society of the
mental-healing movement. Miss Eunice Jones,
Adelaide, is the vice-president for South Aus-
tralia; Mrs. Preshaw, of Clarmont represents
Western Australia ; Miss Emilie A. Hulett, Mel-
bourne, represents Victoria; Mrs. Grace Victor,
North Sydney, is vice-president for New South
Wales; Miss Grace M. Aguilar, Brisbane, rep-
resents Queensland.

The Movement in Fobeign Lands 271

In Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands, Mrs. Mel-
ville Moncrief, vice-president for the Islands,
reports the establishment of The Happy
Thought Coffee House on the water-front, a re-
sort for the men of the streets, the aim being to
reach the human derelicts, and through a kind
word and a little material assistance help the
men to a place where they may be able to help
themselves. An Employment Bureau, with
free baths, and a bowl of soup and bread, or
coffee and doughnuts, for five cents, affords a
man a place to rest and refresh himself . . . . The
men are given every freedom. There are no
rules. They are allowed to play cards and
smoke, and keep their hats on if they want to.
. . . An intoxicated man is shown the same re-
spect as a sober one, and given the same kind of
treatment. The law of love is put to a practical
test, and it has been found to work great changes
in some of these lives. Mrs. Melville and Mrs.
O. B. Guest give their time to this work, free,
and employ two assistants to serve the meals.
New-Thought books are given out when the men
are ready to receive the new idea. . . . Silent
treatments have been given the drinking men,
and many lives have been rehabilitated, and use-
ful members of society made from men who
have been on the city^s scrap-heap. Other ac-
tivities in Honolulu consist in class-instruction

272 The New Thought Movement

and the general work of tjie New Thought Cen-
tre. Mrs. Militz, Mrs. Helen Van- Anderson-
Gordon, and other leading New-Thought teach-
ers have lectured in the Islands.

The pioneer worker in Chile was Georgina
Hooper de Hammerton, whose interest in the
inner life began in 1902, when she attended lec-
tures on spiritualism intermixed with some of
Swedenborg's teachings, and organized a the-
osophical society in Valparaiso. The next im-
petus came from reading The New Thought,
edited by W. W. Atkinson. The work of heal-
ing and teaching the New Thought began in De-
cember, 1904. The only book available in Span-
ish at that time was a translation of Mr. Trine's
In Tune with the Infinite. The healing work
was transferred to Santiago in March, 1910.
The first organization was foimded May 7, 1912,
the Instituto de Ciencia Mental Armonia, with
20 members, most of whom had been healed by
the new method. The first books to be trans-
lated into Spanish and published in Chile were
Law of the New Thought, by W. W. Atkinson,
and Mental Healing Made Plain, by Kate A.
Boehme. The vice-president for South Amer-
ica is Margot Polet de Varvalla, of Santiago,
Chile.

The work in Brazil began in June, 1907, with
the founding of the Circulo Esoterico da Cum-

The Movement in Foreign Lands 273

munhao do Pensamento, in San Paulo, on the
basis of teachings derived from the writings of
Prentice Mulford, W. W. Atkinson, Yogi
Ramacharaka, and others. The first magazine,
the O Pensamento, edited by Antonio Olivio
Rodrigues, was established in November, 1907.
The Circulo had in 1917, 7,000 associates in
Brazil and other lands. There were at that time
50 allied circles, organized on the same basis as
the parent circle in San Paulo. Portugese; not
Spanish, is the language used. O Pensamento,
the title of the magazine, signifies "Mind."

It is difficult to obtain information concern-
ing the influence of New-Thought literature in
foreign languages. The works of Mr. Trine,
Dr. Marden, H. W. Dresser, and others have
been translated into various European lan-
guages, such as French, German, and Spanish,
and these books have been extensively sold. But
since the beginning of the war conmiunication
has been more or less interrupted. The fate of
New-Thought books in Germany, for example,
is matter of doubt. The interesting fact is that
in Germany, as in other foreign lands, there has
been a call for such books.

The International New Thought Alliance has
steadily extended its work and its influence
throughout foreign lands. In 1918, the vice-
presidents outside of North America included

274 The New Thought Movement

the following: South Australia, Miss Eunice
Jones, Adelaide; Western Australia, Mrs.
Preshaw, Clarmont; Victoria, Australia, Miss
Emilie A. Hulett, Melbourne ; Queensland, Aus-
tralia, Miss Grace M. Aguilar, Brisbane ; British
Isles, Rev. J. Bruce Wallace, Limavady, County
Londonderry, Ireland; France, Mme. Florence
Struve, Paris; Hawaiian Islands, Mrs. Melville
Moncrief, Honolulu; New Zealand, Mr. M.
Walker, Auckland; New Zealand, South Island,
Mrs. Marie Barrie, Marlborough; Tasmania,
Mr. Willoughby Connor, Hobart; South Amer-
ica, Margot Polet de Varalla Miguel-Clara,
Santiago, Chile.

Henry Wood's Ideal Suggestion has been
translated into Chinese. There is a movement
in Japan known as "Healing by the Good."
It is a well known fact that mental healing has
always been in vogue in India from ancient
times. In the Upanishads there are teachings
closely resembling those of the New Thought.
Very little has been done, however, to trace out
the resemblances. Representatives of the Ve-
danta philosophy who have lectured in the
United States have called attention to certain
points of contact between the ideas that prevail
in the Orient and those originating independ-
ently in the Occident. In general, it is plain
that the New Thought stands for the individual

The Movement in Foreign Lands 275

in contrast with the Oriental tendency toward
mysticism and pantheism. As the New Thought
works its way into the far East, it will be on a
practical basis, by supplying a method of reali-
zation and healing, and an activity or aflSrmation-
ism usually lacking in countries where mysticism
prevails.

The New Thought has often been stated in
mystical language, as if it meant the confusion
of man with God. But there is no advantage in
such statements. What is meant is individualism
in the better sense. The New Thought stands
for the affirmation or freedom of the individual.
It is thus distinctly American in its idealism.
There is an advantage in maintaining this its
distinctiveness, in contrast with Orientalism in
all forms.

XIII

LOOKING FORWARD

"Never did mankind need the Truth as to-
day.^ In the last analysis, thought is the con-
trolling factor in the universe and men will
manifest that which they think in their hearts.
The present war is the product of the old thought,
as progress is the product of democracy.

"The whole mental and religious worlds are
shifting. The old thought has been tried as by
fire and as ordinarily expounded by its profes-
sional teachers is found wanting. The world
is seeking and demanding a constructive religion
and philosophy that will make impossible all
future catastrophes such as that which is now
upon us.

"This is the opportunity of the New Thought.
To meet this opportunity, however, we must be
prepared. The Alliance is an instrument of
such preparation. To be effective, it must have
your active support, and this support must be
not only in your thought, but in outward mani-
festation. In other words, we want you to talk
up the Alliance, to get members, to contribute

1 Compiled from the bulletin of the Alliance, June, 1918.

^ 276

Looking Foewabd 277

financially and to induce others also to contribute.
We should have in the field now at least one or
two lecturers and after the war we should have
many more. These lecturers should be paid so
that they could be relieved of the need of hold-
ing private classes and could give their whole
time to the work of supporting the Truth.

"This is your work. The Alliance is your in-
strument for giving the message to the world.
We now have a foothold in many lands and are
in a position to spread the gospel of health,
efficiency, right-thinking and right-living. We
can introduce all nations to the science of the
Divine — the New Thought of God and of man
— that is to make a new heaven and a new earth.
We are making a definite call upon you to do
your part. Open your hearts and the Spirit
will strive with you mightily, as it has striven
with us, to press forward in this great cause.

"The Alliance depends upon the Divine Sup-
ply and we are the avenues through which the
Divine Supply manifests. We are teaching
abundance and, therefore, must manifest the
abundance we teach. Ours is the divinely ap-
pointed task of spreading the essential Christ
Truths for the healing of the individual and of
the nations. The fields are white to harvest.
All of us must do our full part in preparing to
spread the message. We have seen the vision

278 The New Thought Movement

and must give abundantly of our thought, of
our time and of our substance to bring it into full
manifestation.

"There is a divine urge in the souls of men to-
ward a new and better humanity. All prophecy
agrees that the great hour has struck for the end-
ing of the old order and the beginning of the
new. The new order must be built on the prin-
ciples of the Christ. The old order failed be-
cause it did not live up to His ideals. Its serv-
ice was a lip service. It did not do His com-
mandments. These conmiandments were very
definitely stated — ^heal the sick, love one another,
minister to others, condemn not, have faith in the
Divine Supply. The nations calling themselves
Christian have flagrantly violated these com-
mandments. 'A house divided against itself can-
not stand.' The time has come when we must
choose the one thing or the other, either Christ
or Antichrist. If we choose Christ, it must be
in no half-hearted way. We must do the works.

"The fruits of the Spirit are health, happiness,
peace, good-will, faith, progress, liberty. The
impulse of the Spirit is in our hearts to lead the
world to reconstruction, regeneration and per-
manent peace. We should be ready to take the
healing message to all who can receive and apply
it. To do this most effectively, however, we
must cooperate.

Looking Foewabd 279

"The first requisite of efficiency is self-con-
fidence — not over-confidence or vanity, but re-
liance in one's own ability to accomplish the task
in hand. Of course, knowledge and training are
necessary, but beyond and above these a spirit-
ual quality is required — the reliance on the abso-
lute and perfect faith that with God's help we
can do the thing we have to do.

"This attitude of mind is an essential part of
New Thought teachings. It is a part of the
gospel of democracy. When men are free to
use their individual initiative and inner resources,
they at once become masters of their own destiny
and their success or failure is in their own hands.
Freedom alone is not enough unless it is accom-
panied by the ability, the spirit and the con-
fidence to use it. Democracy plus New Thought
make an invincible combination. Democracy
frees the soul from man-made shackles and New
Thought teaches it to depend upon the Divine.

"Thought is the most powerful force in the
world. ^ It constructs all cities, all works of art,
all machinery, all invention, all institutions and
all states. These, however, are but its outward
and obvious manifestations. It has subtle and
more far-reaching results. It literally builds
the bodv, molds the features, forms the character,
controls the health, shapes the circumstances, and

1 Compiled from the bulletin of April 15, 1918.

280 The New Thought Movement

make the fortune and the happiness or unhappi-
ness of the individual.

"In ways that are not yet quite understood,
but that have been proved by numerous experi-
ments and are accepted by a considerable school
of scientific men, our thoughts influence the
minds of others, for telepathy, or the power of
mind over mind without the use of visible means
of communication, is now a generally accepted
fact.

"How important is it, then, that we send out
only good thoughts. It has been said that we
live not unto ourselves alone, but it can be said
now with equal truth that we think not unto our-
selves alone. If angels have influence over the
minds of men, if the spirits of the dead guide,
inspire and uplift the minds of the living, they
must exercise this power through something akin
to telepathic influence. We who are living, how-
ever, can exercise an equal influence for good.
We, therefore, can be good angels to others sim-
ply by thinking lovingly, constructively, right-
fully and truthfully of them.

"By setting aside a short time each day to
think good thoughts, we serve a two-fold pur-
pose. First, we improve our own minds and our
own bodies; second, we send out invisible mes-
sengers bearing good tidings to the minds of
others.

Looking Forwabd 281

wtmt

"Give the world a new thought of Christ. In
the old thought all parts of the Bible have been
held equally the word of God. In the New
Thought, that part of the Bible containing the
message of Christ is set on a plane above all
the rest.^ This new age is to be the Christ age,
when the Son of Man is to come in the hearts of
men. In the old thought we have been com-
promising between Christ and Antichrist. *A
house divided against itself cannot stand.' The
present horror in which the world finds itself is
not due to the failure of Christianity, because the
world has not had Christianity of the true sort.
It is only the failure of the half Christianity in
which we have masqueraded.

"We have now come to the dividing of the
ways. The Christ healing, the Christ love, the
Christ faith and the Christ peace are to rule in
the world henceforth and forever.

"It is the ofiice of the New Thought to build
the new temple on the corner stone of the Christ.
This is a spiritual universe. We are made in
the image of God and are spiritual beings. We
are not of the beast and have not his mark either
on our foreheads, nor in our hands, and we must
proclaim unto all peoples in all lands that a new
hour has come, that a new day has dawned and

1 Mr. Edgerton's statement in the above is in accord with
Swedenborg's view that *the Word" is more interior and spiritual
than the Pauline and other Epistles.

282 The New Thought Movement

that the light thereof is the Light of the World.

"The war is ended and the New Age is here/
The outcome is, perhaps, the most inspiring
event of the history of the human race since the
coming of the Son of Man. It is not only an
end of this, the greatest of all wars, but with the
right thought and right attitude on the part of
the free nations, it will be the end of all war.
It was not an accident that the New Thought
and other kindred movements were born in this
age. Rather it is the working out of the Spirit
and the realization of the prophecy of the com-
ing of the Christ in human consciousness.

"This is the golden opportunity for Truth
teaching. Never has there been a greater dem-
onstration of the presence of God in the affairs
of man. Never has there been a more signal
evidence that this is a spiritual universe. The
forward strides made during the war have been
tremendous. Temperance, liberty, democracy,
the rights of women, cooperation, efficiency,
spirituality, faith in the right — all of these have
been advanced, and, above all, a league of na-
tions has been created that should be a guar-
antee of the reign of peace, of liberty and of
righteousness throughout the coming ages.

"When the New Thought Congress met at
Boston, the conflict was at its fiercest and no one

1 From the bulletin of the Alliance, December 1, 1918.

Ik.

tooKiNG Forward 283

could certainly prophesy the end. Yet it is a
happy fact that more than fifty field secretaries
were elected, a board of lectureship provided for
and other steps taken that would meet the great
need for work after the war. This is another
signal proof of the working of the Spirit, for
those present were unconscious that they were
thus preparing for the great work that all felt
would be done after the war. Most of them, if
they expressed an opinion at all, thought that
the conflict might last another year, yet today
we are at the dawn of peace and have our cam*
paign planned for the Great Drive for New
Thought and the AUiance. . . .

"The first work in the New Age is that of re-
construction.^ The nations torn by war and
revolution must be rebuilt, the war's staggering
debt must be paid, the wounds of nature and of
man must be healed, shattered homes and cities
must be replaced, the shell-torn and burrowed
earth must be prepared for tillage, new and more
democratic governments must be erected, the
place of labor in the social scheme must be deter-
mined, woman must be enfranchised and her
place in the business and industrial, as well as
in the political, world established, the nations
must be associated to insure liberty and peace for
the future and, more than all, the thoughts of

1 Alliance bulletin, February 1, 1919.

284 The New Thought Movement

men must be turned to the establishment of a
greater and better civilization than that which so
nearly ended in wreck in the world war.

"The old time is as definitely dead as the old
world that preceded 1914. The New Thought
is the most vital thing now on this planet. In
its philosophy is included the things most needed
in the work of healing the nations and building
the new order. In a word, this may be described
as the essential teachings of the Christ. It was
the neglect of these principles in the so-called
Christian nations that was largely responsible
for the failure of the old order. Henceforth all
peoples must be taught to follow His precepts,
not so much in form as in spirit and in Truth.

"Just now it is political settlement that is
needed. Let us all hold that divine Truth is
being manifested in the institutions and govern-
ments of men, that the political structure of the
future is to be erected, not on the sands of ma-
teriahsm, but on the rock of the Spirit, so that
if the storms again assail it, it will stand. Let
us hold both the spiritual and the political vision,
for the only freedom and the only peace are
those that come of the Divine. We must heal
the nations as we heal the individual by seeing
them as manifestations of God. Let us hold
further that there shall come those who will speak
the new political gospel to all peoples, of broth-

Looking Forward 285

erhood and peace, of justice and freedom, of
righteousness and industry, of health and pros-
perity.

"The world republic is on its way. Earth's
greatest and happiest age is ahead. Let us hold
the perfect vision of it in our hearts and thus
help to bring it into manifestation.

"This is a spiritual universe and it will re-
quire a spiritual age to see it in the fullness of
its beauty and power. Ear has not heard and
eye has not seen what is in store for the human
race right here on this planet. The storm is
over and the sunlight is breaking in full splendor
on the greatest and happiest era this world has
ever known. The Christ is coming in the hearts
of humanity.

"God is the only reality and man is made in
His image. All that is real of us is of Him.
When we think of ourselves as other than His,
we are taking on unreality. When we think of
.ourselves as material or as subject to sickness,
sin and death, we take on the unreality of the
things we picture and this unreality disappears
and so much of us as we have identified there-
with also disappears. The only things that are
permanent in human history are those touched by
the far-shining light of God's purposes. God's
righteousness and Truth triumph forever. Let
us sing to Him a new song in this New Day that

286 The New Thought Movement

is dawning — a song of healing, of brotherly love,
of the building of a new heaven and a new earth.
There are high and sweet and fine thoughts in
the heart of the world today, and high and sweet
and fine things will be manifested as the fruit of
this thinking. In this New Age spiritual things
are to become as matters of every-day — spiritual
healing, spiritual communion, spiritual realiza-
tion. After the crucifixion of humanity comes
the resurrection. All the world is on tiptoe with
the expectancy of mighty things, all the pulpits
of Christendom are echoing to the prophecies of
the second coming. Whisper this secret into the
ear of their thought, *He is already here.' Their
very expectancy and the world's need has called
Him. He is incarnated in humanity and His
mighty works of healing, of blessing and of re-
deeming are seen all over the earth, for we now
know the Truth that He knew, that the Father
in us doeth the works. God is the only reality
and we are only real so far as we show forth His
image and identify ourselves with Him and His
works. All else is vanity.^

"It is contemplated holding a Silent Hoiu'
each day for healing and realization. . . . For
the present it is suggested that each centre ask

1 That is, according to Mr. Edgerton, the second coming is just
this spiritual awalcening of which the New Thought is a part
This is in line with Mr. Evans's view of the New Age in the
earliest books on mental healing.

Looking Foewabd 287

its members to hold a brief silence, say at the
noon horn* each day, for the healing of the in-
dividual and of the nations. Let this hour be
dedicated to the realization of God. It is not
necessary that any one individual give a full
hour, or any other stated time, to this silence, but
he should devote to it a brief time, even though
but a moment, and this should be within the
hour set. Let us on each day take some definite
thought. The first, 'God is Love'; the second,
'God is Health'; the third, 'God is the Only
Reality'; the fourth, 'God's image is in me'; the
fifth, 'The Father in me doeth the works'; the
sixth, 'God's kingdom is come on earth'; and the
seventh, 'The Christ is here in the hearts of hu-
manity.' Thus we have one thought for each
day of the week. Let us think these thoughts
all together with faith and with power and we
can move the world. . . ."

At a meeting to commemorate the founding
of the Metaphysical Club of Boston, in 1914,
Mrs. J. A. Dresser indicated what seemed to
her, as the oldest representative of the therapeu-
tic movement, "the future for the New
Thought." The address was interesting be-
cause it gave expression to another way of in-
terpreting the movement, in terms of its longer
history. Mrs. Dresser said in part:

"We have come together from varied inter-

288 The New Thought Movement

ests with one end in view. We stand for the
ideal that a new life, a new philosophy is coming
into the world. Some of us are interested in ap-
plying it to healing; others care more for the
philosophical elements ; others still for its mystic
and spiritual factors; and some for the religious
point of view it presents; but we are all united
in the desire to interpret and to understand life
as a whole in the light of it.

"As I look back through more than fifty years
of experience I seem to see something of the
wonderful leading of the divine providence, and
I look forward with deepening interest to the
future which is unfolding. I see how Mr.
Quimby grasped the thought which we all call
new. He saw that mind and soul are para-
mount, that thought is substance, and that even
love has body, and a power to heal. He saw the
physical as the body of the inner world and the
temple of the soul, and like all founders of a
thing so great, he saw more keenly, more clearly
and with more rational view, than those who fol-
lowed him, the value of these truths. . . .

"You all know how it was with this great
truth that Mr. Quimby brought to light — ^how
Christian Science came, how many followed
blindly into wide extremes and wild denials of
the obvious facts of life, unbalanced in irration-
ality. You all know how the saner ones came

Looking Foewabd 289

back, and now you see the inevitable crumbling
of that structure before the return of reason.
And some of you remember the efforts, thirty
years ago, on the part of those who had become
interested in these truths — like my husband and
myself, who had been students under Mr.
Quimby's care — ^to begin the movement that has
led on to this day, and that has ultimately pro-
duced this Club and spread its influence over the
land. That evening when this Club was formed,
a few earnest men and women met to gain
strength by unity. ^ We were seeking for just
what Mr. Quimby had sought for years before —
to understand the relation between the soul, the
mind and the body, believing that in this lay the
key to our relation to God and to all life —
the very secret of philosophy.

"During the years of Mr. Quimby's practice of
healing, he had sought for this scientific under-
standing. He had seen that mind is substance;
he also saw that there is an intermediary sub-
stance between mind and body, and he called this
^spiritual matter.' He said this is the substance
which receives all impressions both good and bad.
This is the same intermediary substance which
the modern scientist speaks of as the 'subcon-
scious' mind — that Mr. Frederick W. H. Meyers
called the 'subliminal self — that Swedenborg

1 In February, 1895.

290 The New Thought Movement

means by the 'limbus' — that Dr. Morton Prince
explains in his new book. The Unconscious.

"Mr. Quimby's researches were directly in line
with the best of modern scientific thought, and
with the best philosophical teaching of the past.
He hoped to reduce to a science his theory that
man is here and now a spiritual being, and that
this intermediary substance of his nature is the
basis of all his happiness or misery. The divine
flows in with all love, wisdom and power into
every human soul, seeking embodiment there.
In the supraconscious degrees of the mind it is
received in its integrity. This is the kingdom
of heaven within. In the conscious mind it is
received only in part. When the divine finds
forms corresponding to itself, there it lodges;
but when the forms are out of correspondence it
is perverted or lost. The life current is an ac-
tive force; it is active, creative, formative. In
the mind of man it must either build up or break
down the divine image — God's image in man,
the very tabernacle of the divine life.^

"In the latter part of Mr. Quimby's life he
was seeing more and more clearly that man is an
instrument and a constant receiver of life, not
a self-possessor of it. And he believed that

1 The speaker is here setting forth the therapeutic principle as
derived from the writings of Swedenborg. See Mr. Evans's Th4
Mental Cure, p. 76 et seq.

Looking Foeward 291

sickness and unhappiness are the result of man's
having closed the doors to the influx of divine
life, and that health and happiness are regained
by the process of re-opening them. By the un-
derstanding and acknowledgment of this rela-
tion with the Source of life, man finds his health,
happiness and heaven. . . . [These statements]
show clearly how this thought should go on.
They show that to think well, to be rational, we
must be open, we must seek the truth and face
squarely our issues; we must deal in facts, in
verities, and avoid mere beliefs and opinions,
and afiirm only what is true. . . . We hear it
said that fears must be put away. A fear for
the New-Thought people to put away out of
their doctrine and out of themselves, is the fear
the frankest self-examination and acknowledg-
ment of what is true in personal defects in our-
selves or in others can do the slightest harm so
long as the mind is fixed upon, and dominated
by, God and the true ideal from Him. . . .

"The New Thought is an idealistic philosophy,
its devotees are idealists. As individuals you
are conspicuous for the ideals you hold, for the
tenacity with which you hold them, and for the
power which you ascribe to them. The New
Thought movement more than any other in our
day, stands for the affirmative attitude, and to it
the world is indebted on that account. But its

292 The New Thought Movement

weakness has been that in its zeal for the afiirma-
tive it has forgotten the adage of the ancients —
'Man, know thyself.' It has seen how paralyz-
ing was the self -analysis and the condemnation of
evil in the church of the past; and, in the en-
deavor to break away from every vestige of the
negative, it has gone to the other extreme. My
effort would be to help [the movement] to come
back again, not to a negative point of view, but
to the rational standard, and to face squarely to-
ward the truth.

"I do not ask you to go to some one source
to gain the insight which shall bring the rational
basis for New Thought. . . . Let us all, as in-
dividuals, remember that it is in our lives that
we must manifest our faith in the truth we have.
We have only to set aside self-love, self -glory,
and work earnestly in any cause, by every word
and deed of love that opportunity offers, to find
ourselves growing gradually in wisdom and un-
derstanding, and out of our ills and every form
of unhappiness. God is everywhere and always
the same. He is present with His love, wis-
dom and power ; and, as I have said, where there
are forms in correspondence with Him there He
flows in and is. Hence we may have that full-
ness of power present with us and in us. There-
fore as He is in me with His transforming and
renewing power. He can convert my conscious

Looking Foewabd 293

mind into harmony with the supra-conscious, —
power to convert my subconscious mind and my
body into harmony with the kingdom of heaven
within, power when *my eye is single to fill my
whole body with light/

"I am the last of those who studied with the
founder of this great movement; let me leave
with you this final word : Remember all life, all
goodness and all power come from God. The
humblest shall be greatest, the last first, and he
who seeks not for himself, but also longs to serve,
shall reach the glory and the light. Afiirm your
capacity to receive love, wisdom and power from
the Lord — affirm that truth — ^hold to that truth.
So shall your life be full, and so shall you live
your life in service, and find it gloriously in Him.
The truth shall make you free."

XIV

KINDRED MOVEMENTS

Very little effort has thus far been made to
put the New Thought in intelligible relation
with other types of thought. Christian Science
has been abundantly criticized, and it has been
duly recognized by makers of dictionaries and
encyclopedias; but ordinarily it is defined or ex-
plained as if it were the only phase of the men-
tal-healing movement. The clergy gave early
recognition to the movement, but usually without
recognizing that it possessed any particular
value. Rev. C. A. Bartol, a prominent Unita-
rian clergyman, preached a sermon on it in Bos-
ton, May 4, 1884. Adverse criticisms appeared
in the Andover Review, March, 1887, in an ar-
ticle by Rev. Dr. Denison of Williams College;
and in The Century, July, 1887, in an article by
Rev. Dr. Buckley. Other criticisms have ap-
peared from time to time, including Spiritual
Healing, by Rev. W. F. Cobb, London, 1914,
and The Psychological Phenomena of Christian*
ity, by Rev. Dr. Cutten. But such studies have
nearly always been based on an outsider's obser-
vation, not on aduaV ex^et\fe\\ce with the phe-

Kindred Movements 295

nomena described. Hence these studies have led
to no definite results.

In an article entitled *'New Thought'' in the
S chaff 'Herzog Encyclopedia, H. A. Youtz has
given a fairly intelligible account of some phases
of the New Thought. But this writer has er-
roneously attributed the New Thought entirely
to Christian Science. He does not mention
Quimby or Evans, and seems entirely unaware
that there was a long period of development of
mental healing in America prior to the interest
which separated off from Christian Science and
joined mental science. The bibliography is of
slight value. It contains the titles of only a few
of the leading books on the subject.

The article on the New Thought in the Ency-
clopedia of Religion and Ethics, Volume IX, is
by A. B. Allen, a New-Thought writer, and it is
excellent as a general statement of the movement
and what it stands for. But in the bibliography
Mt. Allen mentions those books only which are
most in line with his own interpretation. He
does not mention the early or more important
books at all. He refers neither to Quimby nor
to Evans, and seems unaware that the New
Thought has had a history. The bibhography
is not representative.

In his American Thought from Puritanism
to Pragmatism, New York, 1915, Di. Wc^c^^-

296 The New Thought Movement

bridge Riley devotes a section to "Benjamin
Rush and Mental Healing,'' in which he discusses
Dr. Rush's Influence of Physical Causes upon
the Moral Faculty. He also mentions Rush's
Diseases of the Mind, 1812, under the head of
materialism. That is to say, this type of men-
tal healing was not "mental" at all as the term
is understood by disciples of the New Thought.
Dr. Riley then goes on to speak of Charles
Poyen, author of Progress of Animal Magnet-
isin in New England, 1837, and of the "whole
tribe of Yankee magnetic healers," with the re-
mark that "this is not the place to show how this
exaggerated materialism was turned into a propa-
ganda among the pious. It would lead to a
long digression to explain the incredible mix-
ture of religion and medicine which has been
noted by foreign observers. . . . Nor have we
time to more than, suggest the direction of the
other line of development of mental medicine.'* ^
By "the incredible mixture" Dr. Riley prob-
ably means Christian Science. But why should
he not give attention to what he calls "the other
line of development," since it has become a char-
acteristic form of "American thought"? He
does indeed touch upon its resemblance to tran-
scendentalism, and he refers to Emerson's doc-
trine of self-reliance. But he thinks it would

1 Pp. 104r-117.

KiNDEED Movements 297

have been better if mental healing had followed
the development of scientific therapy in France,
or had returned to the materialism of Dr. Rush.
He seems unmindful of the fact that one of
the investigators who reacted against "the Yan-
kee magnetic healers," Mr. Quimby, developed
in a direction far removed from materialism, and
led the way to a whole line of literature, begin-
ning with the works of Rev. Mr. Evans. To
him the New Thought would probably seem in
some respects an "incredible mixture." Hence
materialism would be preferable. But it is
hardly the province of the historian to indulge in
pronounced preferences. It is matter of his-
tory that the New Thought is a typical ex-
pression of American thought on its practical
side. The "mixture" is no more incredible than
Christianity itself. The original gospel included
both piety and healing.

The difficulty usually is that writers who judge
mental healing from the outside start with the
presupposition that all genuine mental healing
is "scientific," meaning by "science" the kind of
physiological psychology which is solely con-
cerned with facts, the facts of the dependence
of the mind's states on the brain. Munster-
berg's Psychotherapy is an extreme instance of
this kind of psychology, a disguised materialism
"made in Germany." H. Addington Bruce's

298 The New Thought Movement

Scientific Mental Healing is a step in advance of
this, but still looks toward "science" in the nar-
rower sense, hence it overlooks the values of the
New Thought, So, too, books like Lawrence's
Primitive Psychotherapy and Quackery, Boston,
1910; and Cutten's Three Thousand Years of
Mental Healing, New York, 1911; or Dr. T. S.
Clouston's Mind-cures from a Scientific Point of
View, are chiefly interesting from the point of
view either of general curiosity or of an external
study of the subject. Cobb's Spiritual Heal-
ing, London, 1914, comes much nearer the inner
point of view, and is of value as a spiritual his-
tory of healing prior to the nineteenth cen-
tury. But what one misses is an interpretation
of healing from the inside, as experienced by the
individual. Even Hudson, in his Law of Men-
tal Medicine, Chicago, 1903, fails to give us
this interior interpretation. Hudson is best
known for his exaggerated emphasis of the dif-
ference between the so-called subjective mind
and the objective mind. The disciple of the
New Thought who knows the therapeutic ex-
perience from within would speak rather of the
different levels or planes of consciousness, and of
the ideals with the highest level or "real self."
In contrast with physiological psychology re-
garded as "science," the advocate of the New
Thought holds that a higher or spiritual science

Kindred Movements 299

is implied in what we know and believe concern-
ing this, the spiritual level of human conscious-
ness.

The time appears to have come when the New
Thought should be judged dispassionately. It
is not a mere question of science, or of any spe-
cial phase of the New Thought advocated by
this or that leader as a commercial enterprise.
No list of books prepared to enlighten the pub-
lic can be complete without including at least
one volume by Mr. Evans; one or two of the
period from 1894 to 1900, when the organiza-
tions were taking shape ; and several of the more
popular books, such as Miss Cady's, or those by
Mrs. Militz, which have given shape to the move-
ment in the West. The side-lines and allied
teachings have developed without number. Thus
there is a whole literature of books on success,
such as those by Dr. Marden, whose work began
with books like Pushing to the Front. But what
is needed in the first place, if the New Thought
shall be recognized as distinctive, is an under-
standing of the central principles as they have
been developed out of the therapeutic experi-
ence. For it is this experience which led the
way to the psychology deemed so baffling by the
partisan of the special sciences.

While most of the New-Thought periodicals
have represented certain phases of the movement

800 The New Thought Movement

only, some have given impartial expression to
its manifold tendencies. Dr. Winkley's maga-
zine, Practical Ideals, was of that type. The
Metaphysical Magazine, March, 1901, contained
an article by Eliza Calvert Hall entitled "The
Evolution of Mental Science," which was a
thoughtful contribution. In Mind, biographical
studies of mental-healing leaders were published
from time to time, most of them accurate. Mr.
Paul Tyner contributed to the American Review
of Reviews, 1902, an article entitled "The Meta-
physical Movement," containing studies of New-
Thought leaders, such as Henry Wood, Helen
Wilmans, C. C. Post, Fannie James, Mrs.
Cramer, R. W. Trine, and C. B. Patterson, based
on sketches written by the leaders themselves.
Mr. Tyner's exposition of the movement as a
whole was impartial. The difficulty thus far
has been that people interested in the movement
have not brought together such material as might
be deemed impartial for the sake of estimating
the human equation in relation to the movement
and giving each tendency its proper place. No
one who has undertaken to expound the move-
ment for the sake of fostering interest in a par-
ticular phase of it has adequately treated its
other phases. The effort would be worth while,
for there might be less reason for the existence
of so many variations.

KiNDEED Movements 801

It would be profitable, for example, to con-
sider just what elements Christian Science con-
tributed to the movement, and how these might
be stated so as to assimilate their practical values
without "metaphysics," that is, the abstract prin-
ciples brought over by the pioneers of Divine
Science and other variations. The term Chris-
tian Science was freely used for a time, as if
there were no differences. Thus Dr. Holcombe,
for example, for the most part a follower of
Swedenborg, but who identified the teachings of
Mrs. Eddy and those of Swedenborg in a way
that did not please the devotees of either, used
the term in his Condensed Thoughts on Christian
Science, 1889, in which he calls attention to the
"immense power of thought" and points out that
"evil or false thought repeats or pictures itself
organically in the diseased tissues of the body."
Such pamphlets would not be classified under the
head of Christian Science today. The history
of the movement shows that this term has become
more distinct. It is no longer a synonym for
mental-healing in general. This gives the
greater reason for making the New Thought
more distinctive, so that in dictionaries and ency-
clopedias as well as in libraries it shall be properly
classified.^

iThe general term now used in some of the large libraries is
'^psychological medicine." This term is too widely inclusive.

802 The New Thought Movement

Looking back over the history of the move-
ment we note that there has been a long struggle
to avoid confusions and misunderstandings.
Spiritism or spiritualism was the first movement
to be confused with mental healing, after Mr.
Quimby gave up mesmerism and began to prac-
tise healing. This confusion of mind was nat-
ural inasmuch as spiritism in its popular form
was before the public. From the beginning of
his practice to the end, it was necessary for Mr.
Quimby to show that he did not perform his
cures by the aid of spirits or mediums. Later, in
the mental-science period, when mental healing
attracted wider attention, a different kind of re-
lationship came into being. Spiritualists began
to manifest interest in mental healing and to
practise it in their own way. Then a prominent
spiritualistic healer. Miss Susie C. Clark, became
associated with the New Thought, and took part
in the first New Thought convention in Boston.^
Thus the hypothesis that some diseases are due
to obsessing spirits came somewhat into vogue.
There are of course points of resemblance be-
tween the philosophy of spiritism, known as spir-
itualism, and the New Thought. There is every
reason to acknowledge these points of contact.
The New Thought healer, however, would point

iSee her essay, "Is Mental Science Enough?" The Spirit of
the New Thought, p. 171; also A Look Upward, Boston, 1891.

Kindred Movements 80a

out that mental or spiritual healing as practised
since the days of the discovery of the silent
method by Mr. Quimby is not carried on by the
aid of spirits and is not due to mediumship. On
the other hand, a spiritist might accept all the
teachings of the mental healers and assimilate
these in his own fashion.^

The next movement to be somewhat connected
with mental healing was the theosophical move-
ment, for example, in the writings of Miss Bar-
net, mentioned above. Again, there are points
of resemblance, and these would be especially in-
teresting to any one concerned to trace out an-
cient ideas of mental healing in the sacred books
of India, the sources of theosophy. A theoso-
phist might assimilate the New Thought and
practise mental healing in the same way as the
healers. The writings of Annie Besant and oth-
ers make clear the power of thought. The the-
osophists have much to say about "planes" and
"auras," and other subjects of interest to dev-
otees of the New Thought. But there are many
theosophical tenets that are very distinctive and
these should be judged in connection with theoso-
phy, not confused with or identified with the New
Thought. The inculcation of the theory of re-
incarnation is, for example, a distinct propa-
gandism among theosophists. The question

1 See Handbook of the New Thought, p. 74.

804 The New Thought Movement

would be, as I have queried elsewhere, "whether
the doctrine of reincarnation affords the best
plan for the emancipation of the individual.
Theosophy is surely right in its firm emphasis
on the law of action and reaction. Here it har-
monizes with the New Thought. But some of
us are led to look at the question of salvation at
very close range, instead of holding that we are
loaded with the accumulated deeds (Karma) of
past existences, or accepting the theosophical mo-
tive for avoiding rebirths. Practically speaking,
we may be very sure that we are building up a
future which will correspond with the prevailing
love of the soul." ^

Followers of the New Thought manifested
great interest in the Emmanuel movement when
it was first organized. For it was the first move-
ment within the Church looking forward to an
assimilation of the therapeutic principles. But
it soon became clear that this movement was a
compromise. Its leaders were wholly acceptable
clergymen. They were well trained in modem
psychology. They imderstood the phenomena
of suggestion, as their leading book shows, Re-
ligion and Medicine, by Dr. Ellwood Worcester
and others. But patients were accepted only in
case regular physicians pronounced their eases
eligible for psychotherapeutic treatment. This

^Handbook of the Neiv Thought, p. 73.

Kindred Movements 805

meant reliance on the old-time methods of diag-
nosis. It limited and defined the practice of
suggestion, whereas the followers of the New
Thought acknowledge no such limits. Hence
the Emmanuel workers have come to occupy a
distinctive place, and to advocate principles
which they would defend on a scientific basis.
By contrast they would classify the New
Thought as "unscientific," while acknowledging
that there are practical ideas in New Thought
books. I have traced out this contrast more at
length elsewhere.^

Again, mental healing has sometimes been
confused with hypnotism. This confusion is as
old as the movement, since it was difficult for one
who had not received his treatment to imderstand
why Mr. Quimby's method was radically differ-
ent from hypnotism, then called mesmerism.
Mrs. Eddy, then Mrs. Patterson, understood the
difference and did what she could to clear up the
confusion.^ But then, unluckily, she brought
forward the gratuitous hypothesis of "malicious
animal magnetism," and weak minds acquired a
new fear, lest it were possible for a supposed
enemy to employ evil suggestions. The move-
ment known as "suggestive therapeutics" sprang

^A Physician to the Soul, p. 94; ^ Message to the Well, p. 78;
Handbook of the New Thought, p. 5.

2 See True History of Mental Science, p. 90.

306 The New Thought Movement

up after the mental-science period, when men-
tal healing became more popular, and there were
several periodicals, notably Hypnotic Magazine
and Suggestion, devoted to the subject. Nat-
urally, the new therapeutists claimed that all the
results attained by mental healers could be ac-
complished through hypnotic therapeutics. Dev-
otees of the New Thought of course object that
they do not put their patients into the hypnotic
sleep, and that they do not try to control the
mind but to benefit it, by offering suggestions
which may be freely accepted or as freely re-
jected. They would take radical exception to
a book like Hypnotic Therapeutics, by Dr. J. D.
Quackenbos.^ On the other hand a writer who
began with Christian Science, passed through
mental science, and then studied physiological
psychology, Charles M. Barrows, shows in Sug-
gestion Instead of Medicine that suggestion may
be practised on a scientific basiis without hypno-
tism.

Psycho-analysis as practised by Freud and his
school is nearer the New Thought than sugges-
tive therapeutics or hypnotic therapeutics, for the
psycho-analysts do not practise hypnotism or
mere suggestionism, their efforts being to under-
stand the hidden motive or mental cause of dis-
ease. The New-Thought healers do not employ

1 See criticism of this book in A Message to the Well, p. 71.

Kindred Movements 807

the Freudian technique, they do not analyze
dreams or specialize in nervous disorders traceable
to sexual suppression. But they might well as-
similate some of the results of Freudian psychol-
ogy. That psychology is profound. It throws
light on the nature of desire, the will, and the love-
nature. The mental-healing movement, since
the days of one of its best books. The Mental
Cure, by W. F. Evans, has almost forgotten the
will. It has given almost exclusive attention to
thought as the "greatest power in the world."
Freud leads the discussion back to its deeper
basis. To rediscover the will might be to redis-
cover Mr. Evans's first book, and a really pro-
found psychology of the will on a spiritual basis.
Devotees of the New Thought would rightly ob-
ject that the Freudian psychology is not spir-
itual.^ They could throw light on other phases
of man's nature not discussed by Freud.

It would take us too far afield to trace out the
connection between the New Thought and re-
cent religious literature bearing on mental heal-
ing. From the days of Mr. Evans until the
present time many variations of mental science
and the New Thought have been formulated by
ministers. Christian Pneumatopathy, by Rev.
William I. Gill, Boston, 1887, was one of the first
of these. Such books have been more numerous

1 See Handbook of the New Thought, p. 173.

808 The New Thought Movement

since the Emmanuel movement came into being.
For example, Mind, Religion, and Health, by
Rev. R. MacDonald, 1908; Health and Happi-
ness, by Bishop Fallows, 1909; Mental Medicine,
by Rev. Oliver Huckel, 1909. These books be-
long for the most part to a later generation than
mental science. Mr. Huckel apparently did not
know that he was taking the title of a much bet-
ter book than his own by Mr. Evans, published
1872. Most of these books fail to claim as much
for mental healing as devotees of the New
Thought could claim for it. They are wel-
comed, however, as indicating the growing ac-
knowledgment of the therapeutic power of
Christianity. With the New Thought, they em-
phasize ^'suggestion" as the central factor in men-
tal healing.

There is less in common between socialism and
the New Thought. Followers of the latter have,
to be sure, shown great interest in social ques-
tions, and these matters were often discussed by
Mr. Pennock, Mr. Sprague, and others in the
Metaphysical Club, Boston, in the early days.
But the New Thought emphasis is upon the inner
life as "attracting" the conditions which corre-
spond with the state of the soul, not with the
outward conditions which, according to most so-
cialists, must first be changed before there can
be freedom. For the most part, socialism and

KiNDEED Movements 809

the New Thought are sharply contrasted. With
Christian socialism, however, there are points of
contact. In a work like Miss Scudder's Social-
ism and Character J devotees of the New Thought
would find much to accept.

The movement for the emancipation of woman
has won the attention of New Thought leaders
from the start. The mental-science period was
a time when men took the lead for the most part.
The Metaphysical Club was organized by men as
the original promoters. But women began to
take a more prominent part, until in time that
organization became and has remained essen-
tially a woman's club. In the Middle West and
far West, many of the pioneer workers were
women. Mrs. Van-Anderson organized the
first New-Thought church. Many other leaders
among women have done pioneer work. After
1890, there were probably more leaders among
women than among men. The New Thought
became in fact oiie of the signs that "this is
woman's day." Mr. Quimby set the example
from the beginning by placing fundamental em-
phasis on the power in which woman excels, in-
tuition, and on love as the highest quality of the
inner life. Strictly speaking, it has not been a
question of man or woman, but, as among the
Quakers, of those who have "leadings" to speak
or heal.

810 The New Thought Movement

The New Thought has also been identified in
part with the movement in behalf of peace. This
was plain from the start at the Greenacre con-
ferences, where advocates of peace and disciples
of the New Thought met on the large construc-
tive basis pleaded for by Miss Farmer. Nat-
urally, the advocate of mental healing places first
emphasis on the inner life, and so looks forward
to a campaign of education in behalf of peace.
Then, too, the more spiritually minded regard
the therapeutic movement as a revival of Chris-
tianity, the Gospel of Peace. It does not ap-
pear, however, that any of the New-Thought
people went so far as to become pacifists in the
objectionable sense, that is, the sort who blocked
proceedings making for the success of the Allies.
At the rally which brought the convention of
September, 1918, to a close the following resolu-
tion, representing the New Thought movement
the wide world over, was unanimously adopted :

^'Resolved, That the International New
Thought Alliance in convention assembled in
historic Faneuil Hall, Boston, September 22,
1918, place on record our unbounded loyalty to
America and her Allies in this new and greater
struggle for justice and freedom, pledge both
in spirit and in service our whole-hearted sup-
port to the prosecution of the war to a victorious

Kindred Movements 811

and speedy end, and express our unwavering
faith in the final triumph of democracy and
truth ; furthermore, we recommend to all our cen-
tres and members in the United States the pro-
motion of the Fourth Liberty Loan and the ac-
tive observance of October 12th as Liberty Day
in accordance with the proclamation of President
Wilson."

The relationship of the New Thought to the
Church involves the whole history of the move-
ment from the time Mr. Quimby reacted against
the old theology, and was followed by Mr. J. A.
Dresser, Rev. W. F. Evans, originally a Metho-
dist minister and later a New Churchman; and
the Unitarians, Dr. Winkley, Mr. Rodman, Mr.
Chesley, and others active in founding the Meta-
physical Club. In its bulletin for August 1,
1918, the International New Thought Alliance
says, speaking of the New Thought, "Its funda-
mental principles are constructive thinking, heal-
ing, prospering in the Truth, and creating as
nearly as may be in a practical, common-sense
way, the Kingdom of Heaven here and now — in a
word, the application of the essential teachings of
the Christ. It is not a church, but in it are mem-
bers of almost all churches. It believes in the de-
pendence on the Divine in every thought we think
and every act we do, since we are one with the

312 The. New Thought Movement

Divine and our good is always with us. The
New Thought is the religion of democracy and
all in it are free in the freedom of Truth." ^

The New Thought has doubtless played a part
in emancipating people from the old theology.
The connection between the New Thought and
religious liberalism has been more pronounced
since 1895. The first people to leave the Church
and espouse mental healing were formerly ortho-
dox. But more Unitarians and other religious
liberals changed over after a time. The implied
theology of the New Thought has always been
liberal. The correspondence between religious
liberalism is so close at many points that some
of the New-Thought leaders have believed that
the best way to give New Thought its proper
setting is to identify it with religious liberalism
in general, unmindful of the fact that it is its
therapeutism which makes the New Thought dis-
tinctive.

Thus in a book entitled New Thought, Its His-
tory and Principles, W. W. Atkinson devotes
much space to matters which have little connec-
tion with the New Thought. One sentence only
is devoted to the pioneers of the movement, other

1 Mr. Edgerton's purpose as president of the Alliance is to
show that it is 'Svholly a spiritual confederation and not an in-
stitution in the ordinary sense. At the same time it seems to be
developing a definite purpose in making the New Thought move-
ment an avenue of expression of the Christ teachings to this age.**

KiNDEED Movements ' 313

leaders being referred to as "forgotten." Due
credit is given Mrs. Eddy, to be sure, as the
one "who did more than any other person to
make popular the healing of the body by meta-
physical methods"; but nothing is said to indi-
cate the sources of Mrs. Eddy's methods and
ideas. Mr. Atkinson summarizes the New
Thought under three general heads, and then
says that in these principles "we find a funda-
mental truth of idealistic philosophy, as old as
the history of philosophic thought. There is
nothing new about this truth. The same thing
has been said by the ancient philosophers of
India, five thousand years ago; by the philoso-
phers of Greece, twenty-five hundred years ago ;
by Berkeley, Hegel and Kant, and their follow-
ers.

The objection to this effort to give the New
Thought such a long history is that a statement
so general as "an infinite and eternal spiritual
Principle of Being," has never led to any defi-
nite practical result. The New Thought differs
from the idealisms of the past just because it
disregards them and starts on a practical basis.
Luckily, its pioneers were uninformed in these
ancient systems. The resemblances to the meta-
physical systems of the past were not traced out
until Mr. Evans set the example in his Divine
Law of Cure.

314 The New Thought Movement

It was customary in the early conventions to
formulate statements as general as those quoted
above, for example, "Divine Science accurately
proves the unity of God with all livmg." This
custom was in line with the tendency to mvite
ministers and leaders of thought to speak in the
conventions and hold office. But it was realized
after a time that a scattering of forces was the
result. Some of the leaders of the movement
withdrew from active connection with the con-
ventions because the meetings had become so gen-
eral. Statements like the above gave the out-
sider the impression that th^ New Thought was
as general as the vaguest kind of mysticism or
pantheism, whereas the ideas which gave the
movement its life and being were practical, clear-
cut and specific.

Fortunately, there was a reaction against this
vagueness in the later conventions, and promi-
nence was given to the actual leaders of the move-
ment, in contrast with people only partly in sym-
pathy. It would be an endless undertaking to
trace the resemblances between the vaguer form-
ulations of the New Thought and past and
present mysticisms. The New Thought lost
power whenever it became general. This was
clearly seen in the Metaphysical Club of Boston,
during a period when a wide diversity of speak-
ers were invited and the distinctive interests were

KiNDKED Movements 816

temporarily obscured. The International New
Thought Alliance has been more successful than
the earlier organizations, not merely because its
statements have been more definite but because
it has overcome the individualism which once
made it difficult to organize a successful conven-
tion really devoted to the subject.

Meanwhile, the kindred movements have been
indeed specific. Each has come to occupy its
distinctive place and to be so classified, as in the
case of the Emmanuel movement. The "aver-
age reader'' has become enlightened. It has
been less necessary to show wherein theosophy or
spiritism differ from the New Thought, for ex-
ample; since everybody has come to understand
the differences for the most part. The result
has been a gain for the New Thought.

The same tendency toward unity and direct-
ness is seen in the case of names, terms, and the
periodicals representing the movement. The
term New Thought has taken the place of nearly
all its forerunners. There is now just one in-
ternational society representing the whole men-
tal-healing world outside of Christian Science.
Of the sixty or more miscellaneous publications
standing for various phases of the movement
only a very few remain. Meanwhile, some of
the leading publications, such as Unity, Nauti-
luSj and Master Mind, have grown in circulation

316 The New Thought Movement

and have taken the place of dozens of magazines
which once existed. There is no periodical at
present of the type of Practical Ideals, Mind, or
The Metaphysical Magazine. But the oft-re-
peated ideas which have made the movement pop-
ular are well represented in the existing publica-
tions.

It can hardly be said that the same improve-
ment has been made in the books. There were
formerly too many in circulation. The inquirer
was confused by such a diversity of opinions.
But some of the earlier books were the best. La-
ter leaders have of course wished to increase their
following, and so have issued books containing
variations of the current ideas without number.
But few writers have undertaken to establish or
prove what they said as did Mr. Evans in The
Mental Cure and other volumes. The tendency
has been to neglect some of the profounder views
and to state those only which are calculated to
guarantee the instant healing of all ills and the
bringing of all kinds of success and prosperity.
The more dignified New Thought of Henry
Wood's time was surely very different from
this.

What is needed, if the movement is to grow,
is an effort to collect the main facts in typical
instances of mental or spiritual healing; to un-
dertake the exposition or description of these

Kindred Movements 817

typical instances and then their interpretation in
terms of spiritual philosophy. Very little head-
way has in fact been made on the scientific side
of the therapeutic movement. There has been
so much interest in a speculative science in imi-
tation of Christian Science, that the spiritual
science for which Quimby pleaded has been for-
gotten. Thus we have had Divine Science, the
Science of Being, Mr. Whipple's metaphysics,
and any number of variations, modelled after
Mrs. Eddy's theory. There has been little in-
terest in facts and their interpretation.

There is need of return to the Gospels to dis-
cover there the higher science for which Mr.
Quimby pleaded. What Quimby did was to
throw out a suggestion in that direction, or state
an ideal. It remains for lovers of truth who
care more for spiritual truth in itself than for
any formulation of their own to seek out the
universal spiritual science, the interpretation of
the Bible which shall be demonstrable in itself.
Then we shall pass beyond the individualistic in-
terpretations which differ so widely and are in-
telligible only to those who hold the particular
theory in question. There will then be no need
of so-called Christian Science, Divine or mental
science, or Christian metaphysics; for the par-
ticular theories will have been assimilated, in so
far as true, in the larger, imiversal spiritual

818 The New Thought Movement

science. It will no longer be a question of mine
or thine but of the divine truth of the Living
Word.

To return to Quimby and Evans in this larger
quest for truth would be to raise the question,
what is the relationship of Swedenborg and his
writings to the New Thought movement ? Some
have supposed that Mr. Quimby derived his
teachings in part from Swedenborg. But there
is no direct evidence in support of this assump-
tion. Mr. Quimby may have discussed the
teachings of Swedenborg with the New-Church
minister in Portland, but there is no indication
of any influence coming from that quarter in
Quimby's writings. The most we can say is that
Quimby belonged to the new age whose coming
Swedenborg foretold. Quimby's teaching coin-
cided with Swedenborg's at certain points, but it
remained for Mr. Evans to detect the resem-
blance and to look to Swedenborg's writings to
find the fundamental basis for Quimby's theory
of spiritual healing.

After Mr. Evans's day, Dr. Holcombe was the
first reader of Swedenborg to expound mental
healing. Rev. C. H. Mann has given an ad-
mirable exposition of some of Swedenborg's
teachings in relation to mental healing in his little
book entitled Psychiasis, and Rev. Clyde Broom-
ell has quoted at length from Swedenborg's writ-

KiNDEED Movements 319

ings in his pamphlet, Divine Healing. The
question of the relationship between the two lines
of teaching would turn on the difference between
mental and spiritual healing. We note, for ex-
ample in a pamphlet entitled Religion and
Health, by Rev. Julian K. Smyth of the New
Church, the statement concerning the Emman-
uel movement that " it is singularly silent on the
deepest, the most spiritual side of its would-be
mission. ... I am bound to confess that I have
searched this book Religion and Medicine which
speaks for this movement — I have searched it in
vain for any distinctively spiritual principles. It
has a great deal to say about the conscious and
subconscious minds; about suggestion, auto-sug-
gestion, hypnotism. The therapeutic value of
faith and prayer is emphasized. Many of the
causes of nervousness are pointed out. Physical
disorders having mental origin are explained.
. . . But in what way is this really a return to
Jesus Christ, beyond the fact that they who do
it confess His name?"

Doubtless the more spiritually minded disci-
ples of the New Thought would raise the same
question. The question is. What shall become
of the greater problems remaining unsolved
when suggestion has been employed to the full,
those problems which pertain to our deeper spir-
itual nature? Such problems are surely held

320 The New Thought Movement

over by the partisans of suggestion, whether in
the Emmanuel movement or any branch of the
New Thought. The question is whether we do
not at some point in our development reach the
parting of the ways where not even the vigorous
denials of Christian Science any longer aid us.

Mr. Smyth raises this question when he says,
"Suppose, under influence, I impart to myself a
suggestion which is not in the highest sense true.
Thus, I have seen the following offered as ideal
suggestions :

" *I am pure.'

" 'I am one with God.*

" 'I am in perfect harmony with all.'

"I am told that if I will hold these suggestions
fixedly and in a sort of half -waking state, great
benefits will result. A sense of quiet will be in-
duced. Perhaps some nervous condition, or pain
of body will disappear. But for me, at least,
these suggestions, although they seem highly re-
ligious, in fact are not true. I am not pure ; but
need, rather to cry out, 'God be merciful to me a
sinner I' I am not one with God : — He is divine,
I am hmnan, and, in my self -centered life, I too
often emphasize my separateness from Him. I
am not in perfect harmony with all ; for, if I am
a man struggling for the good of all, I am well
aware of contending evils which are as foes of
my own mental household. Of what avail can

KiNDKED Movements 821

it be to bring about some contented, quiet state
of mind on a fictitious principle? Who is auth-
orized to take the responsibility of imparting to
our subconscious self, when we have laid our-
selves open to the power of suggestion, the true
principle for us?"

The devotee of Christian Science and the part-
isans of the New Thought patterning their views
after Christian Science would of course maintain
that the above-quoted ideal suggestions are true
now of man's real self, and that one can cure
oneself of any ill by holding to such affirmations
and denying the reality of the illnesses. Mr.
Rawson, as quoted above in Chapter XII, gives
the gist of this method in a very clear way when
he counsels a person in need to "turn in thought
to God," denying the reality of any material
condition. This has been the prevailingly suc-
cessful method. But the crucial question is.
Does it contain the whole truth? What then be-
comes of material conditions? How did they
originate? Why do even Christian Scientists
and the partisans of the New Thought emulating
them depart from the position after a while, in
quest of further truth ? How long can therapeu-
tists maintain the fiction of "malicious animal
magnetism" or the hypothesis of a "revelation"
which has to be so strictly guarded that no mem-
ber of the Christian Science church is allowed

322 The New Thought Movement

to read any books or magazines on the New
Thought? If the history of the New Thought
teaches anything during the past twenty-five
years it is this, that the abstract principles have
been dropped for the concrete till now there is a
disposition to look at things as they are with eyes
unafraid.

We have only to recall the state of mind our
country was in before the great war to note how
radically we have changed. We had theoretical
lovers of peace without limit who deplored war
and ignored the forces that had been so long
gathering in Germany, to disrupt the world.
These idealists affirmed peace and denied the pos-
sibility of war. They expected to be triumphant
by virtue of their mere programs for peace. But
they were greatly excelled by the most success-
ful imitators of Christian Scientists — the Kaiser
and the war-party in Germany, who, during the
war, carried on the most effective psychological
propagandism the world has seen: every defeat
was affirmed to be a success; every threatening
fact on the side of the Allies was denied; "in-
spired news" was given to the press to pacify
the people; air-raids were indulged in for men-
tal effect ; in short, affirmation was made the vic-
torious tool of the super-man.

What happened? Steadily thfe American
world was shaken out of its pacifist slumbers.

KiNDBED Movements 823

We were compelled to face the facts, and we did
JO with tremendous execution. After a certain
lay in 1918 it was no longer possible to keep the
iruth from the people in Germany. With the
iiscovery of the truth, the Teutonic morale im-
nediately weakened, the psychological war came
to an end, and Germany went to pieces: the
greatest instance of failure of mere affirmation-
sm the world has seen.

What lessons does the war teach in this re-
jpect? That there is a stronger philosophy in
the Christian faith which does not have to be
bolstered up, a more true, courageous affirmation
i^hich counsels man to look straight through the
facts to the end, ignoring nothing, denying
nothing, but learning the great spiritual
lessons of the ages. In the long run it is
the truth that sets men free. As Mr. Quimby
put it, "the explanation is the cure." To explain
we must look at things fairly and squarely, just
as the war compelled us to look straight at the
enemy and analyze the conflict down to its foun-
dation, in the motives from which it sprang.
Then to triumph we must beat the enemy at his
own game, even if we have to employ his own
fiendish devices. We succeed in the end because
the right is on our side, because we fight with
the moral law. The great lesson of the war is
spiritual. It shows the true road to salvation —

824 The New Thought Movement

if we care to walk in it, the straight and narrow
way of the Gospel, which many see but few find
attractive, inasmuch as we do not like to face
ourselves. To walk in the way is to "live the
life" in its fulness, to realize that there is no
short cut or royal road, however many the psy-
chological devices by which we camouflage its
scenery.

To what extent does this widespread use of ap-
plied psychology represent the New Thought?
In so far as it expresses what has been called
"The Victorious Faith," the well-grounded faith
that wins. Mere aflfirmation without truth or
righteousness to support it leads to no good re-
sult. The New Thought aims to be construc-
tive. From the days of Quimby the pioneer it
has reacted against all bondages, particularly
against servitude to priests and doctors. It has
vigorously reacted against materialism. But it
has tried to make these protests effective in be-
half of the inner life. Its methods are not dis-
counted by the fact that affirmations can be used
with evil intentions, as in the case of the war-
party in Germany.

In short, the New Thought is an "influence,*'
not an institution. Its influence has been felt
on the stage, for example, in dramas which ex-
press the power of thought in contrast with the
power of mere things. It has foimd expression

KiNDBED Movements 825

in recent fiction to some extent. It has fostered
the type of optimism for which America stands.
It has helped in productive enterprises, in stim-
ulating the constructive attitude. Its influence
is seen in what may be called "the psychology of
success,'* wherever the value of expectant sugges-
tion is seen.

It is a new point of view or consciousness. Its
leaders do not try to persuade people to leave
their occupations, their social surroimdings, their
churches; but to show them how every element
in their daily life and in their environment may
be bettered or uplifted if regarded in a different
spirit. Its leaders call attention to that other
environment with which most of us are little ac-
quainted, that is, our inner or mental environ-
ment. They direct attention to the soul. They
show the power of the spirit over circumstance,
over the flesh, over adversity. Thus the clue
which originally was found through a study of
health and disease regarded from within, has
been extended in all directions until for its dev-
otees it has become universal.

The New Thought stands for the affirmative
attitude in all things. This attitude is not new
in the world. It has always been implied in
successful undertakings. But the New Thought
has developed and supplied its psychology, given
the reasons for it. Those reasons it has ex-

826 The New Thought Movement

pressed in terms of a direct appeal to the indi-
vidual to look to himself, change his own
thoughts, remedy his attitude, cease to find fault
and to condemn, before looking to the world.
Not all its disciples have made this change in the
same way. But the fact that its methods have
appealed to all classes of people is evidence of
its widespread influence. What its leaders ask
is that people shall judge by the best the New
Thought has to offer, the best teachings which
its history discloses during the fifty years since
the publication of the first book on the subject.
Everything will depend in its further applica-
tion and influence in the world upon the type of
"science" from which its activities spring. Shall
it be the science of this or that leader who has
imitated Mrs. Eddy, a science more or less
sharply cut off from the realities, the law, order
and system of the world? Or shall it be a science,
not in the speculative or assertive sense, but in
accord with the larger spirit of Christianity in its
original form, the spiritual science of the Christ
regarded universally? If the latter, then it
should pass beyond individual vagaries and fan-
ciful interpretations. If the latter, then it need
ignore nothing, need not deny anything existent
in God's universe. It may overcome all fear and
look with open eye upon the world, learning the
lessons of sorrow and suffering as well as those

Kindred Movements 327

which easily inspire optimism. If the latter, then
it need not be a science of the subjective alone,
it need not be limited to the inner life, but may-
come out into the open, into the full light of the
new age.

Doubtless there was a meaning in the relative
isolation with which Mr. Quimby lived and
worked during the twenty-five years in which he
was developing the silent method, learning the
influence of suggestion, the power of mental at-
mospheres and the other elements of our inmost
attitudes. By a vigorous act of faith we may
perhaps see meaning, too, in the fact that it was
Mrs. Eddy's "science," not Mr. Evans's books,
which first caught the world and became influen-
tial. For that "science," like the self-assertive-
ness of the war-party in Germany, was radical
enough to arouse a dormant world. But it is not
a question either of origins or of developments
along the way but of the results or fruits. Mr.
Quimby pointed back to Christianity, he did not
take credit to himself. He saw that for hun-
dreds of years the world had been deprived of an
important portion of the gospel of Christ.
Hence the teachings which have grown out of
Quimby's pioneer work have been said to be noth-
ing less than "a new revelation of Christianity."

This statement is surely true of the new age
in which we live. The New Thought is at least

828 The New Thought Movement

one of several contributing activities, however we
may interpret the new age in its fulness. We
live in the social century, now. We have passed
out of the subjectivism and the mere idealism of
the nineteenth century. We have discovered the
inner life anew. The central question is. What
use shall we make of our discoveries? Shall wc
analyze matters to the foundation and learn the
whole cause of human misery, dissatisfaction and
the social unrest which is besetting the classes,
acknowledging whatever is before us, seeing life
whole? Shall we pass beyond all psychological
devices needed to support our courage for the
moment ? Shall we acquire a philosophy greater
than idealism and realism? Shall we pass be-
yond both pessimism and optimism?

Whatever else the new age asks of us, it surely
demands that we shall live by what we believe,
proving for ourselves, verifying the everlasting
realities of religion. As an expression of the es-
sentially practical spirit of America, the New
Thought has been doing its part to direct atten-
tion to this the central consideration. Ideals and
affirmations are aids along the way. Eventually
we hope to arrive where the larger truth which
shall be in our power will bring spiritual free-
dom as its great consequence. Life according to
the divine law will then be the test of our spirit-
uality. We will be doing much more than sim-

Kindred Movements 329

ply to strive against our errors, our sins or dis-
eases; we will be living a life which makes for
truth, righteousness and health such that it will
no longer be necessary to think of their opposites.
Good health should become a habit founded in a
life of integrity. We ought then to be able to
labor and to serve as if mankind had never by
its ignorance and its waywardness brought suf-
fering upon the world. That, in brief, is the
ideal of the New Thought: to abolish suffering
altogether, to bring man to his true estate as a
spirit living even now in the spiritual world.

Quimby's radical proposition was that disease
was "the invention of man,'* a sheer "error" in
contrast with divine truth; whereas the old the-
ology had taught that suffering was "an inflic-
tion of wise providence" to be patiently endured.
Quimby maintained that it was the right of man
to be well, and that by profound searching man
could press through his errors to "the explana-
tion" which should be "the cure." The New
Thought has taken up this radical proposition
and Quimby's method and endeavored to prove
them both. It has encouraged every man to be
his own physician and seek his own health by spir-
itual wisdom. This constructive effort is its spe-
cial contribution. This much attained, the New
Thought is ready to join with other activities
which are meeting the great social issues of our

830 The New Thought Movement

time, in a far larger program than that with
which it began. For in very truth the new age
is a return to the original gospel, whose mission
was to make man every whit whole, to bring so-
ciety into the fulness of life. Or, shall we say,
that ours is the age which is coming to imderstand
Christianity for the first time? Christianity was
thought to be for the sake of individual piety, a
scheme of salvation through right doctrine. Our
age teaches the inseparability of the individual
and society. The war has made the races and
nations intimately akin. We do not want the
mere "healing of the nations." We want coop-
eration and brotherhood. We want true serv-
ice and social justice. It is the love which Christ
taught which will overcome the class hatreds
which have organized themselves to bar the way.
All our problems are inseparably connected. All
activities making for social betterment must be
seen as intimately one. What we are witnessing
in our day is a fruition of that power of the Holy
Spirit which went forth into the world at the
time of the incarnation to bring all men unto the
Christ.

APPENDIX

1. The question of the relationship between the New
Thought and commercialism would take us too far afield.
There are, however, several matters which have led to mis-
understandings, and these properly belong to our history.
The bearing of affirmations and suggestions on business
affairs did not come under consideration in the early years.
It was understood that "the laborer is worthy of his hire,"
and reasonable charges were made for silent treatments and
class instruction. But later "the prosperity treatment"
came into vogue, and much use was made of the psychology
of success. As the movement grew in popularity it at-
tracted people of many types, some of whom worked their
way up by sheer persistence and developed a highly suc-
cessful business out of small beginnings. Others adopted
the plan of free-will offerings, and endeavored to "attract"
whatever funds might be needed for their work. Some-
times this plan scarcely differed from the usual commercial
methods, inasmuch as attention was persistently called to
"needs," and appeals were constantly sent out for money
to pay for various improvements. Some of the editors kept
their magazines free from advertisements which might seem
inconsistent with the New Thought, while others accepted
advertisements of many sorts of goods which were indeed
unlike the possessions of the inner life. Hence misappre-
hensions arose to some extent, partly because some of the
leaders appeared to be taking advantage of the public to
attract attention to their own personalities.

The only serious charge brought against any of the

leaders involved the reputation of Helen Wilmans, who was

said to have made fraudulent use of the United States

mails by soliciting money for "absent treatment." Appar-

331

332 Appendix

ently^ Mrs. Wilmans was discredited and the value of ab-
sent treatment called in serious question. The facts in
the case are best known by Eugene Del Mar^ president of
the League for the Larger Life^ and actively connected
with the New Thought movement since 1898. Mr. Del
Mar, who had been a student of Mrs. Wilmans' writings
for several years, and established the New York branch
of the Mental Science Temple in 1899, says, "It was my
good fortune to know Helen Wilmans intimately, first visit-
ing her at Sea Breeze, Fla., as her guest, and subsequently
taking up my residence there for six months, lecturing and
writing for her magazine. Freedom,

"Helen Wilmans was one of the most broadminded of
the leaders of the movement, with pioneer spirit and cour-
age, and when others accepted or compromised with the ar-
bitrary and bureaucratic methods of the Post Office Depart-
ment she defied them and fought to the end. Her resist-
ance enured to the great ultimate advantage of the move-
ment, even in the face of the criticism and condemnation
with which she was greeted by some of the New Thought
leaders.

"The Post Office Fraud Order was placed on Helen Wil-
mans without even prior notice. There was no hearing,
no trial, no conviction. It was instituted by the jealousy
of the man who dominated Sea Breeze, Helen Wilmans
having established her 'City Beautiful' a few miles distant,
and thereby taken away the post office and other privileges
that this Sea Breeze magnate had previously enjoyed. He
happened to be an intimate of the then senior U. S. senator
from Maine, who was very close to the Presidelit; and on
motives of jealousy and revenge, and at the instigation of
political intrigue, the Post Office Department was set in
motion in true Russian autocratic manner.

"Helen Wilmans was cut off from the world without
chance for redress and condemned publicly without hear-
ing or trial. After this had been done, she was indicted
on a charge of 'fraud,' the U. S. Government contending

Appendix 333

that her claim of cure by absent treatment was necessarily
fraudulent because it was impossible to be done. Her
claim was false because absent cure was impossible^ and
it was fraudulent because she must have known that it
was impossible. The United States district judge so in-
structed the jury as follows: 'The foundation of the con-
tention of the Government is that what was promised to
be done could not have been intended^ because the fulfill-
ment was known to be impossible^ by the means proposed
by the defendant^ viz. the transfer of the power of her
thought to the person of the client with a curing influence
sufficient to accomplish the changes in condition that were
declared to be accomplished. . . .'

"The United States Supreme Court reversed this decision
and finally — after Helen Wilmans had been impoverished^
her business ruined^ and her spirit broken — the matter was
dropped. When^ not long after this^ her husband died^ she
felt that she had no further desire to go on with her work^
and she passed away.

"Helen Wilmans was one of the many wonderful women
that the New Thought movement has produced. She was
much misunderstood and maligned by those who either did
not know her or were prejudiced by her pioneer methods.
I shall indeed be glad if at this late date some measure
of justice is done to her memory."

Of course no question concerning the value of absent
treatment as a whole could be settled in court. The test
question for devotees of the silent method would be. What
constitutes absent treatment.^ Can it be undertaken for
a group, or should it be employed for the benefit of one
person at a time only, and this as a result of corre-
spondence between healer and patient, with a precise ar-
rangement as to time, and the number of sittings? Some
of the critics of Helen Wilmans perhaps hastily assumed
that Mrs. Wilmans treated all her absent patients at once,
and that these were acquired through responses to adver-
tisements in which great promises were held out. If so.

834 Appendix

their judgments were indeed ill-founded^ and as sweep-
ing as those of the district judge.

The criticisms imply several points that have never been
adequately discussed. Some devotees of the movement
have maintained that absent healing should not be under-
taken unless the patient be known to the therapeutist. Bat
successful work has been carried on by the healers among
patients unknown to them. Mr. Quimby practised healing
in this way. Others have held that one need not press the
matter very closely^ since some good will result through
self-healing whether the therapeutist keep the appoint-
ment or not. Indeed, it has been contended that all absent
healing is really self-healing. The noon silences kept
throughout the world by devotees of various branches of
the movement are based on the assumption that there is
value in community silence. No leader is supposed to
"hold the thought" for the whole group. Each one is
asked to meditate in his own way on the same thought.
The value of such meditation would be hard to determine.
It would probably be an aid to more direct and inde-
pendent meditation on the part of the individual. It
would be easy to foster credulity on a large scale by en-
couraging community silences and group healings, on the
supposition that some kind of mysterious power goes out
from the head office where the group-healers sit in silence
at the noon hour. On the other hand, the practice of
meditation begun in this way might be the turning-point
in a hungry soul's quest for spiritual food. Hence one
would hesitate to arouse scepticism. Much would depend
upon the instruction given out from headquarters to the
effect that it is not human thought sent out absently that
heals: it is the divine power within the patient. Conscien-
tious absent treatment is a means to an end far beyond
itself.

It is plain that the commercial use of the New Thought
is a question of motive, .and on this point Mr. Del Mar
says, in a recent issue of Now, San Francisco, "The purpose

Appendix 335

of the New Thought is the development of the individual^
through an increased consciousness that he inherently pos-
sesses^ and may bring into manifestation^ all desirable
attributes. And it teaches how^ through the cultivation
and concentration of desire^ the individual may attract
and receive what he thus relates to himself. Through
his increased consciousness of power, the individual
emerges from the mass, and conuuences an existence that
is consciously self-directed.

"But this is not all. Back of all this lies the impelling
motive, and it is the motive rather than the method that
characterizes the New Thought movement. Its essential
conception is that of unity, and it advocates the cultivation
of Self and the attainment of desire from the point of
view of the benefit of all. Its motives necessarily involve
as full a measure of giving as of receiving.

"Those who regard the New Thought merely as an in-
strument whereby to acquire 'success' at the expense of
others, have failed to comprehend its motives, and are
assisting to discredit it. Such people are actuated by the
same motives as are those who have become millionaires
through extortion and bribery. One who would willingly
accumulate and store up useless wealth while millions of
his fellow-beings are suffering for lack of sustenance,
has not as yet thoroughly absorbed the New Thought
conceptions.

"New Thought methods and motives are not intended
to qualify a few individuals to more readily prey upon
the mass. Nor are they designed to enable the individual
to attain his desires at the expense of others. But they
mean the exaltation of each and all, and they ever center
about the conception of Unity.

"When we adopt the religion of humanity, we find that
what we have called our duty to God is the duty we owe
to our Self and our fellow-beings. With the elimination
of the conception of an anthropomorphic God, it becomes
possible to conceive of a heaven here, and to understand

336 Appendix

that man's highest duty is to man. And with the concep-
tion of the essential unity of humanity, man's duty to the
Self and to others is seen to be one and the same. If
he would receive, he must give; if he would be loved, he
must love; if he would benefit the Self, he must be of
advantage to others. One may rise only as he raises others
with him, and one may fall only as he falls with
others. . . ."

The Elizabeth Towne Co., Holyoke, M^ss., issues a
pamphlet entitled The Story of Elizabeth Towne and the
Nautilus, by Thomas Drier and others, in which one may
read a typical record of success as achieved by a New
Thought leader. Mr. Drier says, "I am telling these things
about Elizabeth Towne, because she represents a desirable
state of mind. She stands for a philosophy which makes
for growth and happiness. In her teachings there is
nothing that encourages hatred, discouragement, fear, or
failure. She thinks thoughts which make for success.
She is self-reliant, confident, inspirational. She compels
men and women to forsake their belief in a God that is
vindictive, and she fills their lives with a philosophy of
sunshine, love, kindness, and neighborliness. She is a min-
ister of Today. She wants men and women to do good
now for their own reward now. She shows that there is
no such thing as luck, that effect always follows a cause^
and that disease, disappointment, discouragement are re-
sults which may be avoided by those who understand how
to direct their energies wisely. She doesn't encourage
people to visit her, because, if they came, they would lean
upon her and fail to stand upon their own feet. She pre-
fers to reach people by means of her writings, for she
knows that those she influences will become more self-
reliant and dependent upon their own powers instead of
upon hers."

Speaking of the diversity of motives actuating those who
have adopted the New Thought, Mr. Mclvor Tyndall, in
Now, says, "Therefore, it is impossible for one to formu-

Appendix 337

late a definition for New Thought that shall satisfy every
one*s idea of what the term stands for. To the average
person *New Thought' signifies a kind of 'get-rich-quick*
formula^ as far as it relates to the acquisition of magical
and immediate success. To another it may mean release
from the consequences of past deeds that have hitherto
been regarded as 'sins.' To another it may represent an
excuse for extravagance in dress and other expenditures^
on the principle that New Thought teaches mastery over
material things and that therefore 'New Thought says I
should have everything I want.'

"Like the Bible, 'New Thought' is 'all things to all men/
according to their understanding, and therein perhaps lies
the proof of its verity. Truth is many-sided and looks
different according to the angle from which one regards
it. One of the fundamentals of the New Thought move-
ment, upon which all its various 'schools' and phases are
agreed, is the value of optimism. The realization that
we need not beg and cringe and whine at the feet of an
all-wise and all-loving Power — ^by whatever name we elect
to call this Power — is a perception that is almost univer-
sally recognized. And it is one of the messages which the
New Thought movement particularly emphasizes.

"Another of the fundamentals of New Thought to which
all thinking people will cheerfully subscribe is the fact
that honesty, sincerity, and truthfulness in practical, every-
day life, as well as in ethics is a 'paying proposition' in
actual returns of actual, practical, material dollars and
cents."

2. Misapprehension has prevailed to some extent con-
cerning the Quimby manuscripts, the existence of which ^
began to be generally known in Boston in 1882. The re-
port was circulated that these writings were in Mrs. Eddy's
possession and that she copied Science and Health from
them. In connection with personal matters, taken into
court, a former student of Mrs. Eddy's, Mr. E. J. Ahrens,
made some hasty and ill-founded statements to this effect.

838 Appendix

Mrs. Eddy thereupon challenged Ahrens to produce the
writings and prove his point. This he could not do^ for
he did not possess them and had no access to them. Then
the report was started and kept in circulation for years
that the manuscripts did not exist and that this was
"proved in court/' obviously an absurd statement^ since
no one connected with that case in court had access to the
manuscripts.

For reasons best known to himself^ Mr. George A.
Quimby steadily refused to publish the manuscripts dur-
ing the life-time of Mrs. Eddy. By previous arrangement
with Mr. Quimby our family copies were returned to him
in 1893^ and we were not permitted to quote any of the
articles in full either in The Philosophy of P. P, Quitnhy,
1895, or in Health and the Inner Life, 1906. Mr. Quimby
died without making any provision for the disposition of
the manuscripts. It remains for the historian to edit and
publish these writings at some future time. The historian
has been personally acquainted with all the patients and
followers of P. P. Quimby who have had the use of the
manuscripts. Miss Milmine was allowed to reproduce part
of a page of one of them for her life of Mrs. Eddy pub-
lished in McClure's Magazine.

3, In 1899, it was supposed that the suit brought against
The Arena Publishing Co., for infringements of publish-
ing rights on account of the reproduction of Mrs. Eddy's
portrait in The Arena, May, 1899, was alsa a suit with
regard to the subject-matter of the two articles about Mrs.
Eddy; hence that it was a charge brought against the
writers. But the suit referred to the reproduction of the
portrait only. The subject-matter of the articles was
never called in question. In justice to the historian it
should be said that the exposures contained in these articles
were made at the instigation of Mrs. Woodbury, a former
student of Mrs. Eddy's, and that my article was under-
taken because Mr. George A. Quimby would not permit
any one else to quote from Mrs. Eddy's letters. I did

Appendix 339

not state that Christian Science was a "religious delusion."
This phraseology was introduced by the editor. My own
point of view has always been that truth would take care
of itself^ and that denunciations were unnecessary.

INDEX

Affirmation, daily, of tlie

Qiurch Universal, Australia,

268-270
Affirmative attitude, the New

Thought held to stand for

the, 325-326
Allen, A. B., cyclopedia article

on the New Thought by, 295
Allen, Mary, vice-president of

League for the Larger Life,

New York, 243
Aquarian Ministry, the, in Los

Angeles, 242-243
Arena, The, a New Thought

periodical, 189
Articles on mental healing and

the New Thought, 294-297
Atkinson, W. W., editor of

New Thought Magazine,

Chicago, 154, 264; criticism

of book by, on New Thought

Iti History and Principles,

312-313
Attention, emphasis on, as de-
termining factor in mental

life, 91
Attraction, new stress placed

on law of, by New Thought

movement, 161-162
Australia, interest in the New
. Thought in, 219; progress of

the New Thought movement

in, 268-270

Bamett, Miss M. J., leader
in mental-healing movement,
136

Barrows, Charles M., Facts

and Fictions of Mental Heal-
ing by, 135; Suggestion In-
stead of Medicine by, 306

Bartol, Rev. C. A., sermon on
the New Thought preached
by, 294

Barton, A. P., editor of
Thought and The Life, 172

Barton, Josephine C, speaker
before International Meta-
physical League, 196

Ben Adhem House, Boston,
188

Bible, P. P. Quimby's attitude
toward the truths of the, 47-
48; a return to the, advo-
cated by Mr. Quimby, 69-
70; distinctions made be-
tween parts of, in the New
Thought, 281

Bond, Nannie S., essay by,
cited, 173 n.

Books on the New Thought,
•1 67-1 73 ; recommendations
for improvement in, 316-817

Boston, early vogue of mental
science in, 131-138; forma-
tion of Metaphysical Club of,
182; New Thought conven-
tion held in (1899), 195; or-
ganization of International
Metaphysical League in, 195-
196; work of Dr. Julia Seton
in, 245

Brazil, New Thought work in,
272-273

Bridges, Ruth B., 196

Brown, Henry Harrison, New
341

842

Index

Thought editor and author,

339
Brown, Rev. Muriel, New

Thought minister, 345
Brownell, George B. and

Louise B., mental healerg ol

Los Angeles, 343
Bruce, H. Addington, Scien-

Hflc Mental Healing by, SOT-
SOS
Burkmar, Lucius, mesmeric

subject of P. P. Quimby,

39-31

Cady, Emilie, writings of, 172

CaiUet, Albert, French New
Thought leader, 319

California, the New Thought
movement in, 333-337

Chapin, Mary E. T., one of
organizers of Metaphysical
Club, 183, 186; activities of,
as a New Thought teacher,
305, 306, 314, 318, 331

Charles, George B., editor of
the Christian Metaphyiidan,
137

Chesley, E. M., mental science
leader, 135, 196; essay by,
cited, 173 n.; at Metaphysi-
cal Club, 180; papers con-
tributed to Metaphysical
Club by, 189

Chile, New Thought movement
in, 373

Christ. See Jesus

Christian, Miss, pioneer teacher
in Philadelphia, 355

Christian Metaphysician, pub-
lication of the, 137

Christian metaphysics, use oi
term, 143

Christian Science, P. P. Quim
by's version of, 48-49; be-
ginnings of, 97 ff.; Mrs.

Eddy's discovery of, in visit
to P. P. Quimby, 9S-10S;
lesson found in, as a reac-
tion against a materialistic
age, 133; by some regarded
as the only phase of the
mental healing movement,
394; consideration of ele
ments contributed by, to the
New Thought, 301

Church, relationship of the
New Thought to the, 311

Church of the Divine Unity,
Boston, 134

Church of the Higher Life,
Boston, 174-176

Cincinnati, New Thought
movement in, 350-353

Clark, Susie C., spiritualistic
healer associated with the
New Thought, 303

Cleveland, Ohio, progress of
New Thought movement in,
354

Cobb, Rev. W. F., Sptritual
Healing by, 394, 398

Colorado College of Divine
Science, 337-338

Colville, Mr., author of books
on mental healing, 136

Conjugal love, relation of, to
disease, 83-84

Conventions of mental-healing
movement, 193-307; interna-
tional, 308-330

Cooper-Mathieson, Sister Veni,
work of, in Australia, 368

Cramer, Mrs. M. E., editor of
Harmony, 137; president of
International Divine Science
Association, 193-194; teacher
of the New Thought in Den-
ver, 337

Crane, Aaron M., author of
Bight and Wrong Thinking,

Index

348

189; speaker before conven-
tion of International Meta-
physical League, 198

Davis, Mary N., pioneer mental
scientist, 140

Davis, Minnie S., mental sci-
entist of Springfield, Mass.,
140

Day, Florence W., New
Thought leader in Washing-
ton, D. C, 255

Declaration of Principles at
third congress of Interna-
tional New Thought Alliance,
St Louis (1917), 214-217

Del Mar, Eugene, officer of
League for the Larger Life,
New York, 24S-244; one of
organizers of Mental Science
Temple, New York, 264

Denver, progress of New
Thought movement in, 237-
239

Disease, viewed as an error of
the mind, by P. P. Quimby,
58-59; statement of Mr.
Quimby's theory by W. F.
Evans, 80-81; viewed as an
insanity, 82

Divine Law of Cure, The, Mr.
Evans's later book, 75-76,
88-96, 129

Divine Science, use of name, in
Denver and San Francisco,
155

Divine Science congresses, 192-
194

Douglass, R. C, quoted con-
cerning Henry Wood, 169-
170; leader in New Thought
organizations, 194

Dresser, A. G., The Philosophy
of P, P. Quimby by, quoted,
25-26

Dresser, Horatio Wi, chairman
of School of Applied Meta-
physics at Greenacre, 178;
editor of The Journal of
Practical Meta^hysici, 184;
associate editor of The
Arena, 189; mentioned, 194;
engaged in Y. M. C. A. work
in France, 220; translations
of works of, 273

Dresser, Julius A., quoted con-
cerning P. P. Quimby, 24;
becomes a patient of Mr.
Quimby, 41; quoted on W.
F. Evans and P. P. Quimby,
74-75; The True History of
Mental Science by, quoted,
97-101; beginning of career
and views held by, 142-143

Dresser, Mrs. Julius A., a dis-
ciple of P. P. Quimby, 143-
144; one of organia^rs of
Metaphysical Club, 182; ad-
dress before Metaphysical
Club of Boston, in 1914,
quoted, 287-293

Dyer, Ellen M., pioneer New
Thought teacher in Philadel-
phia, 178, 196, 255

Eddy, Mary Baker, patient of
P. P. Quimby, 41; first visit
of, to P. P. Quimby, 98-99;
quoted concerning cure ef-
fected by Mr. Quimby, 99-
101; letters by, concerning
Mr. Quimby, 102-108; con-
tinued evidences of regard
for Mr. Quunby, 108-110;
complete change in attitude
of, toward Mr. Quimby, 112-
114; discrepancies in state-
ments of, 115-117; true his-
tory of the case of, 117-
119; analogies and differ-

344

Index

ences between theories of,
and those of Mr. Quimby,
190-1:25

Edgerton, James A., president
of National New Thought
Alliance, 909, 910; summary
by, of growth and develop-
ment of New Thought, 918-
930

EUanor Kirk's Idea, New
Thought periodical, 161

Emerson, R. W., beginning of
interest in, among New
Thought leaders, 135-136;
study of, in Oregon, 940

Enmianuel movement, the, 304-
305; necessity of distinct
classification of movements
Icindred to New Thought
shown by, 315; criticism of,
by Rev. Julian K. Smyth,
319-391

England, use of term, "Higher
Thought" in, 154; history of
New Thought movement in,
95&-968

Essays, published by members
of Metaphysical Club, 188

Eternal Progress, New Thought
periodical, 950

Evans, Rev. W. F., patient of
P. P. Qufanby, 41, 71; the
first author to develop ideas
originated by P. P. Quimby,
49; qualifications of, to be-
come an exponent of Mr.
Quimby's methods, 79; quoted
on Mr. Quimby, 73; indebted-
ness of, to teachings of
Swedenborg, 79, 75, 93-95;
volume on The Mental Cure
by, 75; development of, as
shown in later writings, 75-
76; theory of, summarized,
76-89 ; further development

of theory of, 89-94; distinc-
tion between philosophy of,
and that of Swedenborg, 94-
96; followers of, in the men-
tal science period, 135

Faith, importance of, in W. F.
Evans's theory, 85

Farmer, Sarah J., Greenacre
Conferences established by,
176-179; approach made hy,
to New Thought on its spir-
itual side, 179; spealcer be-
fore International Metaphy-
sical League, 196

Fellowship Society of Portland,
Oregon, 940

Fillmore, Charles, mental sci-
ence editor, 137, 931

Fillmore, Myrtle, New Thought
leader, 931

Foulds, Sam £., Editor of
Now, 939

Fox, M. Douglas, article in
The Bally by, quoted, 958-
262

France, the New Thought
movement in, 919-990

Freedom, magazine of the New
Thought, 161

Freud, W. F. Evans a fore-
runner of, 84; philosophy of,
distinguished from the New
Thought, 306-307

Galer, Agnes, teachings and

other activities of, 940-941
Gaze, Henry, New Thought

leader, 950
Germany, call for New Though

books in, 973
Gestefeld, Harry, officer of

International Metaphysical

League, 196
Gestefeld, Ursula N., mental

Index

345

science leader, 140-141 ;
speaker before International
Metaphysical League, 196

Graham, Miss L. C, mental
science pioneer, 137, 139

Gray, Emma, pioneer teacher
and healer in Washington,
D. C, 255

Great Britain, progress of New
Thought in, 220, 258-268

Greenacre Conferences, estab-
lishment of, 176-179

Grier, Rev. J. K., practitioner
of New Thought methods in
Spokane, 242

Grimk^ Miss S. S., early men-
tal science writer, 137

Grumbine, Rev. J. F. C,
pioneer New Thought lec-
turer and teacher, 254

Guild, Ellis B., associate sec-
retary of National New
Thought Alliance, 203

Hall, Bolton, speaker before
International Metaphysical
League, 196

Harmony f New Thought maga-
zine of San Francisco, 137,
185; Mrs. M. E. Cramer edi-
tor of, 194

Hartford group of mental sci-
entists, 138-140

Hawaiian Islands, New
Thought activities in, 271

Henry, Esther, mental healer
and teacher, 139

Higher Thought, preference
for the term, in England,
154

Hoare, Philip O'Bryen, New
Thought worker in New Zea-
land and Australia, 270

Holcombe, Dr., first writer in
mental science period to use

term "New Thought," 153

Home of Truth, name for men-
tal-healing centres on Pacific
coast; 232; idea underlying
the, 235-237; in Boston, 249

Hopkins, Emma Curtis, New
Thought teacher, 140, 231

How to Protect Our Soldiers,
pamphlet by F. L. Rawson,
quoted, 265-268

Howe, Julia Ward, lecture de-
livered by, under auspices of
Metaphysical Club, 182

Huckel, Rev. Oliver, Mental
Medicine by, 308

Hypnotism, confusion of men-
tal healing with, 305-306.
See Mesmerism

Idealism, statement of Mr.
Evans's views in terms of, in
The Divine Law of Cure, 88-
96; as taught by Mrs. Eddy,
129

Ideal Suggestion, book by
Henry Wood, 170-171; trans-
lated into Chinese, 274

India, mental healing in, 274

Insanity, disease viewed as,
82; selfishness in its origin,
83

Intellect, a factor in spiritufil
healing, 87

International Divine Science
Association, conventions of
the, 192-193

International Metaphysical

League, organization of, 195-
196

International New Thought
Alliance, 202; work and in-
fluence of, in foreign lands,
273-274

International New Thou^t

346

Index

convention, Chicago (1903),
198-199
International New Thought
Congress, First, 208

Jackson Lectures, the, 177

James, Fannie B., teacher of
the New Thought in Denver,
237

Janes, Lewis G., 196

Japan, "Healing by the Good"
movement in, 274

Jesus, method of healing prac-
tised by, claimed to be redis-
covered by P. P. Quimby,
47-48; W. F. Evans's view of
healing method of, 86-87;
Mrs. Eddy's teachings con-
cerning, 123; New Thought
the same as the Christ
Thought, 227-228; portion of
Bible containing message of,
set on a plane above the rest,
in the New Thought, 281

Jones, Eunice, New Thought
leader in South Australia,
270

Jones, W. K., pioneer New
Thought teacher in Oregon,
240

Journal of Practical Meta-
physics, statement of pur-
pose of Metaphysical Club
printed in, 186-187

Kansas City, Practiced Chris-
ti£(nity movement in, 155,
256

Keney, Mary M. C, mental
scientist of Hartford group,
139

Kirk, Eleanor, author of Per-
petual Youth, 146 n.

Larson, Christian D., New
Thought leader, writer, and
editor, 250

La Vake, Sara G. M., presi-
dent of New England Fed-
eration of New Thought cen-
tres, 247, 248, 249

League for the Larger Life,
New York City, 243-244

Leonard, Rev. W. J., quoted
concerning W. F. Evans and
P. P. Quimby, 73-74

Liberalism, religious, and the
New Thought, 312

"Light, Love, Truth," use of
name, by mental scientists,
139

Los Angeles, New Thought
<:onvention in (1912), 204-
206; Metaphysical Library
in, 242

Love, element of, in spiritual
healing, 87

Lowther, Granville, quoted on
New Thought in the North-
west, 241-242

Macdonfild, Rev. L. B., presi-
dent of Metaphysical Club,
182

MacDonald, Rev. R., Mind,
Religion, and Health by, 306

McGee, Rev. Lucy C, minister
of the Church of the Higher
Life, 176; at First Interna-
tional New Thought Con-
gress, 208, 209

Magazines, mental science,
136-137; New Thought, 184-
185, 238-240, 241, 255-256,
264, 268, 300) reduction in
number of, and growth in
circulation of leading period-
icals, 315-316

Malicious animal magnetism,

Index

847

Mrs. Eddy's hypothesis of,
122

Mallory, Lucy A., pioneer men-
tal healing editor, 2S9

Mann, Rev. C. H., exposition
by, of Swedenborg's teach-
ings in relation to mental
healing, 318

Marden, Orison Swett, presi-
dent of League for the
Larger Life, New York,
243; translations of works of,
273; success books by, 299

Mason, Francis E., pioneer in
reformed Christian Science,
194

Master Mind, The, New
Thought monthly in Califor-
nia, 233, 241

Men's Meetings on Pacific
coast, 234

Mental attitudes, belief in, a
fundamental principle of
New Thought, 162

Mental Cure, The, W. F.
Evans's first book, 75; Mr.
Evans's theory as set forth
in, 76-89; interest shown in,
upon publication in 1869,
126-127

Mental HeaUng Monthly, es-
tablishment of, 136

Mental Medicine, Rev. W. F.
Evans's second book, quoted,
73

Mental Medicine, Rev. Oliver
Huckel's, 308

Mental pictures, emphasis
placed on, by mental science
writers, 137-138

Mental science, the period of,
126 ff.; significance and use
of term, 128-129; first macra-
Bines devoted to, 136-137;
spiritual application of term

by W. F. Evans, 144-145;
employment of term by Mrs.
Wilmans, 145 ; possibilities
of, as a broad tendency of
thought, 145-146; application
of, to health as the chief in-
terest, 146-147

Mental Science Magazine, pub-
lication of the, 137

Mesmerism, investigation and
practice of, by P. P. Quimby,
29-41; discarding of, by Mr.
Quimby, 38-39; wherein spir-
itual healing differs from,
49-50, 305-306

Messner, Maud P., officer of
League for the Larger Life,
243

Metaphysical Club, organiza-
tion of, in Boston, 180-182;
lectures delivered before, 182;
first permanent New Thought
club, 183; The Journal of
Practical Metaphyeies estab-
lished by, 184; statements
published by, of purpose,
186-187; special significance
of organization of, 189-190

Metaphysical Guild of Boston,
249

Metaphysical healing, use of
term, 141-142; peculiar sig-
nificance of term, 156

Metaphysical Magazine, The,
establishment of, 138

Militz, Annie Rix, New
-Thought teacher, 198, 204,
205, 206, 207, 232; New
Thought carried to Australia
by, 219; great activities of,
as a teacher and leader,
237

Militz, Paul, New Thought
teacher, 232

Miller, Dr. O. E., New

848

Index

Thought worker in England,

Mills, Benj. Fay, meetings

and classes held by, i?40
Mills, Rev. E. £., work of, in

Spokane, 34i
Mind, New Thought magazine,

185
Mind-cure, vogue in Boston of

the so-called, 139
Moncrief, Mrs. Melville, New

Thought leader in Hawaiian

Islands, 971
Morgan, Rev. Victor H., New

Thought preached by, 240
Mulford, Prentice, teachings

of, 149, 166
Murray, Rev. W. J., New

Thought author and editor,

155; engaged in Red Cross

work in Italy, 990

National New Thought Alli-
ance, formation of, 909

Nautiltis, New Thought maga-
zine, 941; success of, 955-
956

New Civilization, Church and
School of the, 945-946

Newcomb, C. B., author of
AlVs Bight with the World,
189

New England Federation of
New Thought Centres, 947

New Thought, experiences of
P. P. Quimby as the pioneei
of, 19-43; comprehensiveness
of term, 159; first mental
scientists to use term, 159-
153; merging of mental sci-
ence into, 153; growth of
term into current usage,
153-154; other names for
same movement, 154-156 ;
name now used to designate

entire mental-healing move-
ment, 156; terms used by
writers on the, 158-159;
early tendency to individual-
ism, 159-160; achievement of
a harmonious national organ-
ization, 160; introduction of
element of optimism, 160-
161; quest for freedom ex-
plicit in, 161; new emphasis
placed on law of attraction,
161-169; belief in mental at-
titudes held. to be fundamen-
tal, 169; significance of word
"realization," 169-163; ra-
tional expression of, repre-
sented by Henry Wood's
writing's, 164-179; work of
other writers and editors on
the, 179-173; the first organ-
izations, 174 ff.; the Church
of the Higher Life, 174-176;
the Greenacre Conferences,
176-179; the Metaphysical
Club, 180-189; the first con-
ventions, 199 ff.; meetings of
the International Divine Sci-
ence Association, 199-194;
convention in Boston (1899),
195-196; convention of Inter-
national Metaphysical League
in New York (1900), 196-
198; International New
Thought Convention in Chi-
cago (1903), 198-199; sum-
mary by President Edgerton
of recent growth and devel-
opment of, 918-930; promi-
nent leaders and organiza-
tions, 931-957; the movement
in foreign lands, 958-^5;
the future of, 976-993; con-
sideration of, and of kindred
movements, 994-330; danger
of allowing to become gen-

Index

849

eral, 314-315; future of, de-
pendent on its further ap-
plication and influence, 3^6-

New Thought Forum, Boston,

New Thought Library and
Reading Room, Boston, 249

I'Tew Thought Temple, Cincin-
nati, work of, 260-263

Newton, R. Heber, speaker be-
fore International Metaphy-
sical League, 196; president
of New Thought organiza-
tion, «I99

New York City, progress of
New Thought in, 243-946

New Zealand, New Thought
work in, 270

Norris, Mrs. C. E. C, New
Thought leader in Boston,
249

Now, New Thought periodical
of San Francisco, 239

Optimism, element of, intro-
duced in New Thought move-
ment, 160-161

Oregon, progress of the New
Thought in, 240

Oscawana, N. Y., New Thought
meetings at, 177

Pacific coast. New Thoughr
movement on, 232-237

Patterson, Charles Brodie,
mental science adopted by.
140; use of term "New
Thought" by, 153-154; pub-
lisher of Mind, 185; presi-
dent of International Meta-
physical League, 196; men-
tioned, 202; in England, 262

Peace, identification of the

New Thought with move-
ment in behalf of, 310

Pennock, E. A., paper on **A
Physical Basis for Righteous-
ness" by, 188

Personified Unthinkables, book
by Miss Grimk^, 137

Philadelphia, the New Thou^t
movement in, 255

Poore, Emma C, leader of
Church and School of the
New Civilization, 245

Power, New Thought monthly
of Denver, 238

Poyen, Charles, mesmerism in-
troduced into United States
by, 29

Practical Christianity, New
Thought movement called, in
Kansas City, 145, 155; name
interchangeable with New
Thought, 238-239; magazine
Unity the organ of, 236

Practical IdeaU, New Thought
magazine of Boston, 189

Prather, Charles E., editor and
publisher of Power, 238

Procopeia, The, New Thought
society in Boston, 179-180

Psycho-analysis and the New
Thought, 30&-S07

Queensland, start of New
Thought work in, 270

Quimby, George A., quoted on
personality of P. P. Quimby,
2S-24; on investigation of
mesmerism by P. P. Quimby,
29-31; account by, of his
father's development of
method and theory of spir-
itiinl healing, 37-41; on his
father's view of life as a
whole, 42-43; The Philosophy

850

Index

of P, p. Quimby quoted, 56-
59
Quimby, Phineas P., pioneer of
New Thought movement, 19-
SO; early life and training,
SO-29; attitude toward the
Church, 22; feeling of, to-
ward books, 22-23; personal
appearance and characteris-
tics, 23-26; beginnings of ex-
perience in healing, 26-^;
investigation and practice of
mesmerism by, 29S2; per-
sonal account of his eicperi-
ence, 33-35; career as a prac-
titioner in Portland, 39-41;
notable patients of, 41; sum-
ming up of view held by, of
life as a whole, 4^-43; death
of, 43; detailed account of
method of healing of, 44-70;
Mrs. Eddy cured by, 98-101;
letters of Mrs. Eddy relating
to, 10^108; Mrs. Eddy's
change of attitude toward,
11^114; emphasis placed on
mental pictures by, 137-138

Rawson, F. L., New Thought
teacher in London, 364-265;
pamphlet on How to Protect
Our Soldiers by, quoted, 365-
368

Realization, significance of
word, to followers of the
New Thought, 163-163

Reed, Frederick, New Thought
leader, 177-178; secretary of
Metaphysical Club, 183

Reesberg, Eleanor M., pioneer
lecturer and leader in Cali-
fornia, 343

Riley, Dr. Woodbridge, discus-
sion of mental healing in
book by, 395-396

Roblln, Rev. Stephen H., vice-
president of National New
Thought Alliance, 202

Rodman, Warren A., secretary
of Metaphysical Club, 184;
paper on "Business and the
Higher Life" by, 188; secre-
tary of International Meta-
physical League, 196

Sabin, Oliver C, pioneer in re-
formed Christian Science, 194

St. Louis, Second International
New Thought Congress at
(1916), 313-314; progress of
New Thought movement in,
35S-354

San Francisco, first convention
of mental-healing movement
held in, 193; First Interna^
tional New Thought Congress
in (1915), 308; original
Home of Truth in, 33S-337

School of Applied Metaphysics,
the, 178

Science and Health, publication
of (1875), 137; a certain
value to be attributed to,
137-138

Seabury, Annetta G., patient of
P. P. Quimby, 41

Selfishness, the primary trouble
in disease, 83

Seton, Dr. Julia, interest
aroused in New Thought in
Australia by, 319; work of,
as leader of New Thought
movement, 345

Sexual emotion, as a cause of
disease, 83-64

Sheldon, Edward, mental sci-
ence pioneer, 137

Shelton, T. J., editor of £fd«fi-
tifie ChrUtian, 331

Simon, Leila, work of, as head

Index

851

of New Thought Temple in
Cincinnati, 250-263

Smyth, Rev. Julian K., state-
ment by, concerning Em-
manuel movement, quoted,
319-32n

Socialism, lack of common in-
terest between the New
Thought and, 308-309

Society of Silent Unity, Kansas
City, 256

South America, New Thought
movement in, 272-27S

Spiritualism and the New
Thought, 309-303

Sprague, Frank B., New
Thought writer, 189

Stoiber, May C, New Thought
minister, 945

Struve, Madame Florence,
French New Thought leader,
919

Stuart, Elizabeth G., student
of mental healing, 138, 139

Swartz, A. J., editor of Mental
Science Magazine, 137

Swedenborg, indebtedness of
W. F. Evans to teachings of,
79, 75, 76, 79 ff., 93-95; dis-
tinction between Mr. Evans's
philosophy and that of, 94-
96; question of relationship
of, to the New Thought
movement, 318-319

Tafft, Henry S., ofOicer of
International Metaphysical
League, 196

Theology, part played by the
New Thought in emancipat-
ing people from the old, 319

Theosophy, resemblances found
between mental science and,
136, 303-304

Thought, mental healing maga-
zine, 137

Towne, Elizabeth, editor and
author, 939; Nautilue edited
by, 941; work of, in connec-
tion with Nautilus, 955-956

Trine, R. W., writer on New
Thought subjects, 158; What
All the WorldPe Aseeking
by, 179; at Greenacre Con-
ferences, 178; mentioned,
198; translations of works of,
973

Troward, Judge T., use of
term '*mental science" by,
154; most widely read of
English New Thought writ-
ers, 963

Trueman, Anita, 196

Tyner, Paul, editor of The
Arena, 189; mentioned, 196,
950; leader of Edinburgh
New Thought Centre, 964

Unity, the representative mag-
azine of Practical Christian-
ity, 137, 941, 956

Universalists, New Thought
preached by, in Oregon, 940,
949

Universal New Thought Studio
and Lecture Room, Los An-
geles, 943

Universal Truth, New Thought
magazine of Chicago, 185

University of Christ, Los An-
geles, 934

Upaniehads, teachings resem-
bling those of the New
Thought in the, 974

Uptegrove, W. E., treasurer of
International Metaphysical
League, 196

Van-Anderson, Helen, influen-

852

Index

tial New Thought writer,
179; originator of Church of
the Higher Life, Boston,
174-176; begins similar work
in other cities, 176; men-
tioned, 194, 198, 300
Vedanta philosophy, the New
Thought and the, 374

WaUace, Clara Haven, organ-
iser of Metaphysical Guild
of Boston, 349

Ware, the Misses, patients of
P. P. Quimby, 40-41

Washington (state), progress
of the New Thought in, 339-
340

Washington, D. C, New
Thought movement in, 355

WayMe Lights, mental sci-
ence magazine, 137

Wee Wisdom's Way, mental-
healing magazine for chil-
dren, 331

Whipple, Leander £., pioneer
mental healer, 138-139, 141;
The Philosophy of Mental
Healing by, 173

Wilcox, Ella AVheeler, a New
Thought writer, 333

Wilmans, Helen, employment
of term '^mental science" by,
145; editor and author, 161,
331

Wilson, Grace, New Thought
leader in Los Angeles, 343

Winkley, Rev. J. W., mental-
science leader, 134, 196, 199;
one of organizers of Meta-
physical Club, Boston, 180-
183; Practical Ideals edited
and published by, 189

Woman suffrage, interest of
New Thought leaders in, 309

Women, prominence of part
taken by, in the New Thought
movement, 309

Wood, Henry, theory of, of
ideal suggestion through
mental photography, 149,
151; use of term "New
Thought" by, 154; mentioned,
157-158, 194, 196; writings
of, as representative of more
rational expression of the
New Thought, 164-173; at
Greenacre Conferences, 178;
essays by, 188; Ideal Sug-
gestion by, translated into
Chinese, 374

Worcester, Ellwood, leader in
the Enmianuel movement,
304

Yamell, Jane, speaker before

International Metaphysical

League, 196
Y. M. C. A., collaboration of

New Thought centres with,

333
Youtz, H. A., cyclopedia article

on the New Thought by, 395

6637

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67

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